TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

More detail can be found at [the end of the book.]

ETHAN ALLEN
The Robin Hood of Vermont

BY

HENRY HALL

RUINS OF TICONDEROGA

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1892

Copyright, 1892,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

[PREFACE.]

At the time of the death of Mr. Henry Hall, in 1889, the manuscript for this volume consisted of finished fragments and many notes. It was left in the hands of his daughters to complete. The purpose of the author was to make a fuller life of Allen than has been written, and singling him from that cluster of sturdy patriots in the New Hampshire Grants, to make plain the vivid personality of a Vermont hero to the younger generations. Mr. Hall's well-known habit of accuracy and painstaking investigation must be the guaranty that this "Life" is worthy of a place among the volumes of the history of our nation.

Henrietta Hall Boardman.

[CONTENTS.]

ETHAN ALLEN.

[CHAPTER I.]

AN ACCOUNT OF HIS FAMILY.

Ethan Allen is the Robin Hood of Vermont. As Robin Hood's life was an Anglo-Saxon protest against Norman despotism, so Allen's life was a protest against domestic robbery and foreign tyranny. As Sherwood Forest was the rendezvous of the gallant and chivalrous Robin Hood, so the Green Mountains were the home of the dauntless and high-minded Ethan Allen. As Robin Hood, in Scott's "Ivanhoe," so does Allen, in Thompson's "Green Mountain Boys," win our admiration. Although never a citizen of the United States, he is one of the heroes of the state and the nation; one of those whose names the people will not willingly let die. History and tradition, song and story, sculpture, engraving, and photography alike blazon his memory from ocean to ocean. The librarian of the great library at Worcester, Massachusetts, told Colonel Higginson that the book most read was Daniel P. Thompson's "Green Mountain Boys." Already one centennial celebration of the capture of Ticonderoga has been celebrated. Who can tell how many future anniversaries of that capture our nation will live to see! Another reason for refreshing our memories with the history of Allen is the bitterness with which he is attacked. He has been accused of ignorance, weakness of mind, cowardice, infidelity, and atheism. Among his assailants have been the president of a college, a clergyman, editors, contributors to magazines and newspapers, and even a local historian among a variety of writers of greater or less prominence. If Vermont is careful of her own fame, well does it become the people to know whether Ethan Allen was a hero or a humbug.

Arnold calls history the vast Mississippi of falsehood. The untruths that have been published about Allen during the last hundred and fifteen years might not fill and overflow the Ohio branch of such a Mississippi, but they would make a lively rivulet run until it was dammed by its own silt. The late Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, fought a duel with Daniel O'Connell, because O'Connell declared it to be his belief that Disraeli was a lineal descendant of the impenitent thief on the Cross. Perhaps the libellers of Allen are descended from the Yorkers whom he stamped so ignominiously with the beech seal. The fierce light of publicity perhaps never beat upon a throne more sharply than for more than a hundred years it has beat upon Ethan Allen. His patriotism, courage, religious belief, and general character have been travestied and caricatured until now the real man has to be dug up from heaps of untruthful rubbish, as the peerless Apollo Belvidere was dug in the days of Columbus from the ruins of classic Antium.

Discrepancies exist even in regard to his age. On the stone tablet over his grave his age is given as fifty years. Thompson said his age was fifty-two. At the unveiling of his statue, he was called thirty-eight years old when Ticonderoga was taken. These three statements are erroneous, and, strange to say, Burlington is responsible for them all, Burlington, the Athens of Vermont, the town wherein rest his ashes, the town wherein most of the last two years of his life were passed, and the town that has done most to honor his memory.

However humiliating it may be to state pride, it is probable that the Allens, centuries ago, were no more respectable than the ancestors of Queen Victoria and the oldest British peers. The different ways of spelling the name, Alleyn, Alain, Allein, and Allen, seem to indicate a Norman origin. George Allen, professor in the University of Pennsylvania, says that Alain had command of the rear of William the Conqueror's army at the battle of Hastings in 1066.

Joseph Allen, the father of Ethan, comes to the surface of history about the year 1720, one year after the death of Addison and the first publication of "Robinson Crusoe," in the town of Coventry, in Eastern Connecticut, twenty miles east of Hartford. When he first appears to us he is a minor and an orphan. His widowed mother, Mercy, has several children, one of them of age. Their first recorded act is emigration fifty miles westward to Litchfield, famous for its scenery and ancient elms, located between the Naugatuck and the Shepaug rivers, on the Green and Taconic mountain ranges; famous also as the place where the first American ladies' seminary was located, and most famous of all for its renowned law-school, begun over a century ago by Judge Tapping Reeve and continued by Judge James Gould. Chief Justice John Pierpoint and United States Senator S. S. Phelps were among its notable pupils. The widow, Mercy Allen, died in Litchfield, February 5, 1728. Her son Joseph bought one-third of her real estate. Within five years he sold two tracts, of 100 acres each, and fourteen years after his mother's death he sold the residue as wild land. On March 11, 1737, Joseph Allen was married to Mary Baker, daughter of John Baker, of Woodbury, sister of Remember Baker, who was father of the Remember Baker that came to Vermont. Thus Ethan Allen and Remember Baker were cousins.

Ethan Allen was born January 10, 1737, and died February 21, 1789, and consequently he has been said to have been fifty-two years, one month and two days old. In fact, he was fifty-one years, one month and two days old. The year 1737 terminated March 24. Had it closed December 31, Allen would have been born in 1738. The first day of the year was March 25 until 1752 in England and her colonies. In 1751 the British Parliament changed New Year's Day from March 25 to January 1. The year 1751 had no January, no February, and only seven days of March. Allen was thirteen years old in 1750, and was fourteen years old in 1752.

The year 1738 gave birth to three honest men—Ethan Allen, George III., and Benjamin West. In 1738 George Washington was six years old, John Adams three years old, John Stark ten years old, Israel Putnam twenty years old. Seth Warner and Jefferson were born five years later. In that year no claim had ever been made to Vermont by New York or New Hampshire. No one had ever questioned the right of Massachusetts to the English part of Vermont. New Hampshire was bounded on the west by the Merrimac. Colden, the surveyor-general of New York, in an official report bounded New York on the east by Connecticut and Massachusetts, on the north by Lake Ontario and Canada; Canada occupying Crown Point and Chimney Point.

If by waving a magician's wand the English-American colonies on the Atlantic slope, as they existed in 1738, could pass before us, wherein would the tableau differ from that of to-day? West of the Alleghanies there were the Indians and the French. On the north were 50,000 prosperous French, farmers chiefly along the valley of the St. Lawrence from Montreal to Quebec. On the east, Acadie, including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and a part of Maine, was Scotch. Florida was Spanish. From Georgia to Maine were 1,500,000 English-Americans and 400,000 African-Americans. The colony of New York had a population of 60,100. New Hampshire, consisting of a few thousand settlers, was located north and east of the Merrimac, and had a legislature of its own, but no governor. Massachusetts, with its charters from James I. and Charles I., claimed the country to the Pacific Ocean, and exercised ownership between the Merrimac and Connecticut and west of the Connecticut, without a breath of opposition from any mortal. Massachusetts had sold land as her own which she found to be in Connecticut, and she paid that state for it by granting her many thousand acres in three of the southeastern townships of Vermont. She built and sustained a fort in Brattleboro', kept a garrison there with a salaried chaplain, salaried resident Indian commissioner, and she established a store supplied with provisions, groceries, and goods suitable for trade with frontiersmen and the Indians of Canada. Bartering was actively carried on along the Connecticut River, Black River, Otter Creek, and Lake Champlain. In 1737 a solemn ratification of the old treaty occurred there; speeches were made, presents given, and the healths of George II. and Governor Belcher, of Massachusetts, were duly drunk. There was no Anglo-Saxon settlement in Vermont outside of Brattleboro'. In Pownal were a few families of Dutch squatters. The Indian village of St. Francis, midway between Montreal and Quebec, peopled partly by New England refugees from King Philip's war of 1676, exercised supreme control over northeastern Vermont.

In all the land were only three colleges: Harvard, one hundred and two years old, Yale, thirty-seven, and William and Mary, forty-five.

Ethan Allen had five brothers, Heman, Heber, Levi, Zimri, and Ira, and two sisters, Lydia and Lucy. Of all our early heroes, few glide before us with a statelier step or more beneficent mien than Heman Allen, the oldest brother of Ethan. Born in Cornwall, Connecticut, October 15, 1740, dying in Salisbury, Connecticut, May 18, 1778, his life of thirty-seven and a half years was like that of the Chevalier Bayard, without fear and without reproach. A man of affairs, a merchant and a soldier, a politician and a land-owner, a diplomat and a statesman, he was capable, intelligent, honest, earnest, and true. But fifteen years old when his father died, he was early engaged in trade at Salisbury. His home became the home of his widowed mother and her large family. Salisbury was his home and probably his legal residence, although he represented Rutland and Colchester in the Vermont Conventions, and was sent to Congress by Dorset.

Heber was the first town clerk of Poultney.

Ira was able, shrewd, and gentlemanly; a land surveyor and speculator, a lieutenant in Warner's regiment, a member of all the conventions of 1776 and 1777, of the Councils of Safety and of the State Council; state treasurer, surveyor-general, author of a "History of Vermont", and of various official papers and political pamphlets. In 1796 he bought, in France, twenty-four brass cannon and twenty thousand muskets, ostensibly for the Vermont militia, which were seized by the English. After a lawsuit of seven or eight years he regained them, but the expense beggared him. He died in Philadelphia, January 7, 1814, aged sixty-three years.

Levi Allen joined in the expedition to capture Ticonderoga, became Tory, and was complained of by his brother Ethan as follows:

Bennington County, ss.:

Arlington, 9 January, 1779.

To the Hon. the Court of Confiscation, comes Col. Ethan Allen, in the name of the freemen of the state, and complaint makes that Levi Allen, late of Salisbury in Connecticut, is of Tory principles and holds in fee sundry tracts and parcels of land in this State. The said Levi, has been detected in endeavoring to supply the enemy on Long Island; and in attempting to circulate counterfeit continental money, and is guilty of holding treasonable correspondence with the enemy under cover of doing favors to me when a prisoner at New York and Long Island; and in talking and using influence in favor of the enemy, associating with inimical persons to this country, and with them monopolizing the necessaries of life; in endeavoring to lessen the credit of the continental currency, and in particular hath exerted himself in the most fallacious manner to injure the property and character of some of the most zealous friends to the independence of the U. S. and of this State likewise: all which inimical conduct is against the peace and dignity of the freemen of this State. I therefore pray the Hon. Court to take the matter under their consideration and make confiscation of the estate of said Levi before mentioned, according to the laws and customs of this State, in such case made and provided.

Ethan Allen.

Levi died while in jail, for debt, at Burlington, Vermont, in 1801.

Zimri lived and died in Sheffield.

Lydia married a Mr. Finch, and lived and died in Goshen, Connecticut.

Lucy married a Dr. Beebee, and lived and died in Sheffield.

[CHAPTER II.]

EARLY LIFE, HABITS OF THOUGHT, AND RELIGIOUS TENDENCIES.

The life of Allen may be divided into four periods: the first thirty-one years before he came to Vermont (1738-1769), the six years in Vermont before his captivity (1769-1775), the two years and eight months of captivity (1775-1778), and the eleven years in Vermont after his captivity (1778-1789).

When he was two years old the family moved into Cornwall. There his brothers and sisters were born, there his father died, there Ethan lived until he was twenty-four years old. When seventeen he was fitting for college with the Rev. Mr. Lee, of Salisbury. His father's death put an end to his studies. This was in 1755, when the French and Indian war was raging along Lakes George and Champlain, a war which lasted until Allen's twenty-third year. Some of the early settlers of Vermont, Samuel Robinson, Joseph Bowker, and others, took part in this war. Not so Allen. There is no intimation that he hungered for a soldier's life in his youth. His usual means of earning a livelihood for himself and his widowed mother's family is supposed to have been agriculture.

William Cothrens, in his "History of Ancient Woodbury," tells us that in January, 1762, Allen, with three others, entered into the iron business in Salisbury, Connecticut, and built a furnace. In June of that year he returned to Roxbury, and married Mary Brownson, a maiden five years older than himself. The marriage fee was four shillings, or sixty-seven cents. By this wife he had five children: one son, who died at the age of eleven, while Ethan was a captive, and four daughters. Two died unmarried; one married Eleazer W. Keyes, of Burlington; the other married the Hon. Samuel Hitchcock, of Burlington, and was the mother of General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, U. S. A.

Allen resided with his family first at Salisbury and afterward at Sheffield, the southwest corner town of Massachusetts. For six miles the boundary line of the two states is the boundary line of the two towns. In these towns the families of Ethan Allen and his brothers and sisters lived many years. Two years after moving to Salisbury he bought two and a half acres, or one-sixteenth part of a tract of land on Mine Hill, an elevation of 350 feet in Roxbury, containing, it is said, the most remarkable deposit of spathic iron ore in the United States. Immense sums of money were expended in vain attempts to work it as a silver mine. Two years after Allen began his Vermont life he still owned land in Judea Society, a part of the present town of Washington. The details and financial results of these business undertakings are not furnished us. They indicate enterprise, if nothing more. Carrying on a farm, casting iron ware, and working a mine, not military affairs, seem to have been the avenues wherein Allen developed his executive ability during his early manhood.

What were his educational facilities, his social privileges, and his religious views during this formative period of his life? Ira Allen, in 1795, writes to Dr. S. Williams, the early historian of Vermont, that when his father, Joseph Allen, died, his brother Ethan was preparing for college, and that the death of his father obliged Ethan to discontinue his classical studies. Mr. Jehial Johns, of Huntington, told the Rev. Zadock Thompson that he knew Ethan Allen in Connecticut, and was very certain that Allen spent some time studying with the Rev. Mr. Lee, of Salisbury, with the view of fitting himself for college. The widow of Judge Samuel Hitchcock, of Burlington, told Mr. Thompson that Ethan's attendance at school did not exceed three months. Ira Allen writes General Haldimand in July, 1781, that his brother Ethan has resigned his Brigadier-Generalship in the Vermont militia, and "returned to his old studies, philosophy." To what period in Ethan's life does the phrase "old studies" refer? It could not be his life after the captivity, during his five years' collisions with the Yorkers, but the period we are now considering. Heman Allen's widow, when Mrs. Wadhams, told Zadock Thompson that one summer when he was residing in her house he passed almost all the time in writing. She did not know what was the subject of his study, but on one occasion she called him to dinner, and he said he was very sorry she had called him so soon, for he had "got clear up into the upper regions." Allen himself says:

In my youth I was much disposed to contemplation, and at my commencement in manhood I committed to manuscript such sentiments or arguments as appeared most consonant to reason, lest through the debility of memory, my improvement should have been less gradual. This method of scribbling I practised for many years, from which I experienced great advantages in the progression of learning and knowledge; the more so as I was deficient in education and had to acquire the knowledge of grammar and language, as well as the art of reasoning, principally from a studious application to it; which after all, I am sensible, lays me under disadvantages, particularly in matters of composition; however, to remedy this defect I have substituted the most unwearied pains.... Ever since I arrived at the state of manhood and acquainted myself with the general history of mankind, I have felt a sincere passion for liberty. The history of nations doomed to perpetual slavery in consequence of yielding up to tyrants their natural-born liberties, I read with a sort of philosophical horror.

In Allen's youth great revivals were inaugurated, organized, and continued mainly by the preaching of Whitefield, who roused and electrified audiences of several thousands, as men have rarely been moved since the days of Peter the Hermit. Even Franklin, Bolingbroke, and Chesterfield were fascinated by him. As for Allen, baptized in his infancy, in the days when no Sabbath-school blessed the race, when the Westminster Catechism and Watts' Hymns were in use throughout New England (Isaac Watts died when Allen was eleven years old), living in and near northwest Connecticut in as democratic and religious community as the world had ever seen, reading none of the books of the Deists, he was fond of discussion and delighted in writing out his arguments. Having been brought up an Armenian Christian, in contradistinction to a Calvinistic Christian, his views in early manhood began to change. One picture of this gradual evolution he gives us in the following description:

The doctrine of imputation according to the Christian scheme consists of two parts. First, of imputation of the apostasy of Adam and Eve to their posterity, commonly called original sin; and secondly, of the imputation of the merits or righteousness of Christ, who in Scripture is called the second Adam to mankind or to the elect. This is a concise definition of the doctrine, and which will undoubtedly be admitted to be a just one by every denomination of men who are acquainted with Christianity, whether they adhere to it or not.

I therefore proceed to illustrate and explain the doctrine by transcribing a short but very pertinent conversation which in the early days of my manhood I had with a Calvinistic divine; but previously remark that I was educated in what are commonly called the Armenian principles; and among other tenets to reject the doctrine of original sin; this was the point at issue between the clergyman and me. In my turn I opposed the doctrine of original sin with philosophical reasonings, and as I thought had confuted the doctrine. The Reverend gentleman heard me through patiently: and with candor replied:

"Your metaphysical reasonings are not to the purpose, inasmuch as you are a Christian and hope and expect to be saved by the imputed righteousness of Christ to you; for you may as well be imputedly sinful as imputedly righteous. Nay," said he, "if you hold to the doctrine of satisfaction and atonement by Christ, by so doing you presuppose the doctrine of apostasy or original sin to be in fact true;" for, said he, "if mankind were not in a ruined and condemned state by nature, there could have been no need of a Redeemer; but each individual of them would have been accountable to his Creator and Judge, upon the basis of his own moral agency. Further observing that upon philosophical principles it was difficult to account for the doctrine of original sin, or of original righteousness; yet as they were plain, fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith we ought to assent to the truth of them; and that from the divine authority of revelation. Notwithstanding," said he, "if you will give me a philosophical explanation of original imputed righteousness, which you profess to believe and expect salvation by, then I will return you a philosophical explanation of original sin; for it is plain," said he, "that your objections lie with equal weight against original imputed righteousness, as against original imputed sin."

Upon which I had the candor to acknowledge to the worthy ecclesiastic, that upon the Christian plan I perceived the argument had clearly terminated against me. For at that time I dared not to distrust the infallibility of revelation; much more to dispute it. However, this conversation was uppermost in my mind for several months after; and after many painful searches and researches after the truth, respecting the doctrine of imputation, resolved at all events to abide the decision of rational argument in the premises; and on a full examination of both parts of the doctrine, rejected the whole; for on a fair scrutiny, I found that I must concede to it entirely or not at all; or else believe inconsistently as the clergyman had argued.

He relates also a change from his juvenile views of biblical history:

When I was a boy, by one means or other, I had conceived a very bad opinion of Pharaoh; he seemed to me to be a cruel, despotic prince; he would not give the Israelites straw, but nevertheless, demanded of them the full tale of brick; for a time he opposed God Almighty; but was at last luckily drowned in the Red Sea; at which event, with other good Christians, I rejoiced, and even exulted at the overthrow of the base and wicked tyrant. But after a few years of maturity and examination of the history of that monarch given by Moses, with the before recited remarks of the apostle, I conceived a more favorable opinion of him; inasmuch as we are told that God raised him up and hardened his heart, and predestinated his reign, his wickedness, and his overthrow.

In 1782 he says:

In the circle of my acquaintance (which has not been small), I have generally been denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never disputed; being conscious I am no Christian, except mere infant baptism makes me one; and as to being a Deist, I know not, strictly speaking, whether I am one or not, for I have never read their writings.

We are told that Allen in his early life was very intimate with Dr. Thomas Young, the man who supplied the state with its name, "Vermont," in April, 1777, and who so strongly encouraged it to assert its independence. One of the most noted characteristics of Ethan, his fondness for the society of able men, is illustrated in his association with Young.

Dr. Young, who was a distinguished citizen of Philadelphia, was on most of the Whig committees in Boston, before the Revolution, with James Otis, Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, and others. He and Adams addressed the great public meeting on the day "when Boston harbor was black with unexpected tea." He was a neighbor of Allen, living in the Oblong, in Dutchess County, while Allen lived in Salisbury. Afterward he lived in Albany, and died in Philadelphia in the third year of Allen's captivity. He was influential in causing Vermont to adopt the constitution of Pennsylvania.

The Oblong, Salisbury and vicinity, abounded in free thinkers. Young and Allen opposed President Edwards' famous theological tenets, the latter spending much time in Young's house, and it was generally understood that they were preparing for publication a book in support of sceptical principles; the two agreeing that the one that outlived the other should publish it. Allen, on going to Vermont, left his manuscripts with Young, and on his release from captivity after Young's death obtained from the latter's family, who had gone back to Dutchess County, both his own and Young's manuscripts, and these were the originals of his "Oracles of Reason."

[CHAPTER III.]

REMOVAL TO VERMONT.—THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

Allen came to Vermont, probably, in 1769, a year memorable for the founding of Dartmouth College and for the birth of four of earth's renowned men: two soldiers, Wellington and Napoleon; two scholars, Cuvier and Humboldt.

In the early history of Vermont, one of its prominent judges speculated extensively in Green Mountain wild lands. The aggregate result of these speculations was disastrous. Attending a session of the legislature, the judge was called upon by a committee for his advice in reference to suitable penalties for some crime. He replied, advising for the first offence a fine; for the second, imprisonment; and if the criminal should prove such a hardened offender, such a veteran in vice as to be guilty the third time, he recommended that the scoundrel should be compelled to receive a deed of a mile square of wild Vermont lands. Speculation in wild lands is a feature of pioneer society. Vermont was once the agricultural Eldorado of New England. Emigration first rolled northward. Since that time a certain star, erroneously supposed to belong to Bishop Berkeley, has been travelling westward.

In 1749 Benning Wentworth, Governor of New Hampshire, issued a patent of a township, six miles square, near the northwest angle of Massachusetts and corresponding with its line northward, and in this township of Bennington the Allens bought lands and made their home. This grant caused a remonstrance from the governor and council of New York. Similar remonstrances had been made in the cases of Connecticut and Massachusetts, each of whom claimed that their territory extended to the Connecticut River. But that question had been settled in the former cases between New York and New England by agreeing upon a line from the southwest corner of Connecticut northerly to Lake Champlain as the boundary between the provinces. Wentworth urged in justification of his course that the boundary line was well known, and that New Hampshire had the same right as the other colonies of New England, and he persevered in his own course. In 1754 fourteen new townships had been granted, when the French war broke out and the settlers were deterred from occupying their lands by the incursions of the French and Indians on the frontier and the uncertainty of the termination of the contest; but when Canada was reduced by the English and peace concluded, there was a new rush for the possession of the fertile lands by the hardy and adventurous sons of the old New England colonies. In four years Governor Wentworth granted one hundred and thirty-eight townships, and the territory included was called the New Hampshire Grants. Then began in bitter earnest the long controversy between New York and New Hampshire for the ownership of all the territory now known as Vermont.

In order to make clear the circumstances of the time when Ethan Allen came to the front, it is necessary to explain something of the origin of the strife. The New York claim was founded on a charter given by Charles II. to his brother, the Duke of York, in 1664, for the country lying between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers. But that charter had long been considered as practically a nullity, for when the Duke of York succeeded to the throne of England, it all became public property subject to the king's divisions; and there are strong reasons for believing that the mention of the Connecticut was merely a formality, not intended as a definite boundary, and that the design was to take in the whole of the New Netherlands. The geography of the country was little known, and the wording of the charter was ambiguous and vague. Allen at once espoused the cause of the settlers. But for him the State of Vermont would probably have never existed. But for Allen, Albany, not Montpelier, might have been the capital of Vermont. Allen's most illustrious achievement for the benefit of the nation was the capture of Ticonderoga. His great work for Vermont was successful resistance to the Yorkers.

Before entering upon this period of litigation, one of the stories of Allen, illustrating his honesty, may fitly find a place. Having given a note which he was unable to pay when it became due, he was sued. Allen employed a lawyer to attend to his case and postpone payment. But the lawyer could not prevent the rendering a judgment against Allen at the first term of court, unless he filed a plea alleging some real or fictitious ground of defence. Accordingly, quite innocently he put in the usual plea denying that Allen signed the note. The effect of this was to continue the case to the next term of court, exactly what Allen wanted; but Allen was present and was indignant that he should be made to appear to sanction a falsehood. He rose in court and vehemently denounced his lawyer, telling him that he did not employ him to tell a lie; he did sign that note; he wanted to pay it; he only wanted time!

It was in June, 1770, that Allen first became prominent in Vermont public affairs. Then it was that the lawsuits brought by Yorkers for Vermont lands were tried before the Supreme Court at Albany. Robert R. Livingston was the presiding judge; Kempe and Duane, attorneys for plaintiffs; Silvester, of Albany, and Jared Ingersoll, of New Haven, attorneys for defendants. Ethan Allen was active in preparing the defence. But of what avail was defence when the court was virtually an adverse party to the suit? Not only did Duane claim 50,000 acres of Vermont lands, but, to the disgrace of English jurisprudence, Livingston, the presiding judge, was interested directly or indirectly in 30,000 acres. The farce was soon played out; the court refused to hear the New Hampshire charter read; one trial was sufficient; the plaintiffs won all the cases. Duane and others called on Allen and reminded him that "might makes right," advising him to go home and counsel compromise. Allen observed: "The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills!" Duane asked for an explanation, and Allen replied: "If you will come to Bennington the meaning shall be made clear to you."

Allen went home and no compromise was thought of. The great seal of New Hampshire being disregarded, the "Beech Seal" was invented as a substitute. A military organization was formed with several companies, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and others as captains, and Ethan Allen as colonel.

In July, 1771, on the farm of James Breakenridge, in Bennington, the State of Vermont was born. Ten Eyck, the sheriff, with 300 men, including mayor, aldermen, lawyers, and others, issued forth from Albany, as did De Soto to capture Florida, as Don Quixote essayed to conquer the windmills. Breakenridge's family were wisely absent. In his house were eighteen armed men provided with a red flag to run up the chimney as a signal for aid. The house was barricaded and provided with loop-holes. On the woody ridge north were 100 armed men, their heads and the muzzles of their guns barely visible amid the foliage. To the southeast, in plain sight, was a smaller body of men within gunshot of the house. Six or seven guarded the bridge half a mile to the west. Mayor Cuyler and a few others were allowed to cross the bridge and a parley ensued. The mayor returned to the bridge, and in half an hour the sheriff was notified that possession would be kept at all hazards. He ordered the posse to advance, and a small portion reluctantly complied. Another parley followed, while lawyer Yates expounded New York law and the Vermonters justified their position. The sheriff seized an axe, and going toward the door, threatened to break it open. In an instant an array of guns was aimed at him; he stopped, retired to the bridge, and ordered the posse to advance five miles into Bennington. But the Yorkers stampeded for home, and the bubble burst. The "star that never sets" had begun to glimmer upon the horizon.

In the winter of 1771-72 Governor Tryon, of New York, issued proclamations heavy with ponderous logic and shotted with offers of money for the arrest of Allen and others. To the arguments Allen replied through a newspaper, the Connecticut Courant, of Hartford. To the premium for his arrest he returned a Roland for an Oliver in the following placard:

£25 Reward.—Whereas James Duane and John Kempe, of New York, have by their menaces and threats greatly disturbed the public peace and repose of the honest peasants of Bennington and the settlements to the northward, which are now and ever have been in the peace of God and the King, and are patriotic and liege subjects of Geo. the 3d. Any person that will apprehend those common disturbers, viz: James Duane and John Kempe, and bring them to Landlord Fay's, at Bennington, shall have £15 reward for James Duane and £10 reward for John Kempe, paid by

Ethan Allen.
Remember Baker.
Robert Cochran.

Dated Poultney,

Feb. 5, 1772.

Duane and Kempe were prominent lawyers of New York, and also prominent as advocates of New York's claim to Vermont lands. Duane was the son-in-law of Robert Livingston and Kempe was attorney-general. The idea of their being kidnapped for exhibition at a log tavern in the wilderness was slightly grotesque. But this did not satisfy Allen. He would fain visit the enemy in one of his strongholds.

Albany was emphatically a Dutch city, for it was two centuries old before it had 10,000 inhabitants. In 1772 it might have had half that number. While the country was flooded with proclamations for his arrest, Allen rode alone into the city. Slowly passing through the streets to the principal hotel he dismounted, entered the bar-room, and called for a bowl of punch. The news circulated; the Dutch rallied; the crowd centred at the hotel; the officers of the court, the valiant sheriff, Ten Eyck, and the attorney-general were present. Allen raised the punch-bowl, bowed courteously to the crowd, swallowed the beverage, returned to the street, remounted his horse, rose in his stirrups and shouted "Hurrah for the Green Mountains!" and then leisurely rode away unharmed and unmolested. The incident illustrates Allen's shrewd courage, and sustains Governor Hall's theory that the people of New York sympathized more with the Green Mountain Boys than with their own land-gambling officers.

At the Green Mountain tavern in Bennington was a sign-post, with a sign twenty-five feet from the ground. Over the sign was the stuffed skin of a catamount with large teeth grinning toward New York. A Dutchman of Arlington who had been active against the Green Mountain Boys was punished by being tied in an arm-chair, hoisted to this sign, and there suspended for two hours, to the amusement of the juvenile population and the quiet gratification of their seniors.

[CHAPTER IV.]

ALLEN AND THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS.—NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE NEW YORK AND THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

During the six years preceding the Revolution, Allen was the most prominent leader of the Green Mountain Boys in all matters of peace, and also in political writing. When the Manchester Convention, October 21, 1772, sent James Breakenridge, of Bennington, and Jehiel Hawley, of Arlington, as delegates to England, perhaps Allen could not be spared, for if any New York document needed answering Allen answered it; if any handbill, proclamation or counter-statement, or political or legal argument was to be written, Allen wrote it; if New England was to be informed of the Yorkers' rascalities, Allen sent the information to the Connecticut Courant and Portsmouth Gazette, Vermont having no newspaper. Rarely was force or threat used or a rough joke played on a Yorker, but Allen was first in the fray. In Bennington County Allen with others told a Yorker that they had "that morning resolved to offer a burnt sacrifice to the gods of the woods in burning the logs of his house." They did burn the logs and the rafters, and told him to go and complain to his "scoundrel governor."

Of all the towns of Western Vermont, Clarendon had been most noted for its Tories and its Yorkers. Settled as early as 1768, its settlers founded their claims to land titles on grants from three different powers: Colonel Lydius, New York, and New Hampshire. The New York patent of Socialborough, covering Rutland and Pittsford substantially, was dated April 3, 1771, and issued by Governor Dunmore. The New York patent of Durham, dated January 7, 1772, issued by Governor Tryon, covered Clarendon. Both were in direct violation of the royal order in council, July, 1767, and therefore illegal and void. The new county of Charlotte, created March 12, 1772, extended from Canada into Arlington and Sunderland and west of Lake George and Lake Champlain. Benjamin Spencer, of Durham, was a justice and judge of the new county; Jacob Marsh, of Socialborough, a justice; and Simeon Jenny, who lived near Chippenhook, coroner. These three officers were zealous New York partisans. The Green Mountain Boys in council passed resolutions to the effect that no citizen should do any official act under New York authority; that all persons holding Vermont lands should hold them under New Hampshire laws, and if necessary force should be used to enforce these resolves.

In the early part of the fall of 1773, a large force of Green Mountain Boys, under Ethan Allen and other leaders, visited Clarendon and requested the Yorkers to comply with these resolutions, informing them if this were not done within a reasonable time the persons of the Durhamites would suffer. Justice Spencer absconded. No violence was used except on one poor innocent dog of the name of Tryon, and Governor Tryon was so odious that the dog was cut in pieces without benefit of clergy. This display of force and the threats that were very freely used, it was hoped, would be enough to secure submission, but the justices still issued writs against the New Hampshire settlers; other New York officials acted, and all were loud in advocating the New York title.

A second visit to Durham was made. Saturday, November 20, at 11 P.M., Ethan Allen, Remember Baker, and twenty to thirty others surrounded Spencer's house, took him prisoner, and carried him two miles to the house of one Green, where he was kept under a guard of four men until Monday morning, and then taken "to the house of Joseph Smith, of Durham, innkeeper." He was asked where he preferred to be tried; he replied that he was not guilty of any crime, but if he must be tried, he should choose his own door as the place of trial. The Green Mountain Boys had now increased in number to about one hundred and thirty, armed with guns, cutlasses, and other weapons. The people of Clarendon, Rutland, and Pittsford hearing of the trial, gathered to witness the proceedings. A rural lawsuit still has a wonderful fascination for a rural populace. Allen addressed the crowd, telling them that he, with Remember Baker, Seth Warner, and Robert Cochran, had been appointed to inspect and set things in order; that "Durham had become a hornets' nest" which must be broken up. A "judgment seat" was erected; Allen, Warner, Baker, and Cochran took seats thereon as judges, and Spencer was ordered to stand before this tribunal, take off his hat, and listen to the accusations. Allen accused him of joining with New York land jobbers against New Hampshire grantees and issuing a warrant as a justice. Warner accused him of accepting a New York commission as a magistrate, of acting under it, of writing a letter hostile to New Hampshire, of selling land bought of a New York grantee, and of trying to induce people to submit to New York. He was found guilty, his house declared a nuisance, and the sentence was pronounced that his house be burnt, and that he promise not to act again as a New York justice. Spencer declared that if his house were burned, his store of dry-goods and all his property would be destroyed and his wife and children would be great sufferers. Thereupon the sentence was reconsidered. Warner suggested that his house be not destroyed, but that the roof be taken off and put on again, provided Spencer should acknowledge that it was put on under a New Hampshire title and should purchase a New Hampshire title. The judges so decided. Spencer promised compliance, and "with great shouting" the roof was taken off and replaced, and this pioneer dry-goods store of 1773 was preserved.

At another time twenty or thirty of Allen's party visit the house of Coroner Jenny. The house was deserted; Jenny had fled, and they burned the house to the ground. The other Durhamites were visited and threatened, and they agreed to purchase New Hampshire titles. Some of the party returning from Clarendon met Jacob Marsh in Arlington, on his way from New York to Rutland. They seized him and put him on trial. Warner and Baker were the accusers. Baker wished to apply the "beech seal," but the judges declined. Warner read the sentence that he should encourage New Hampshire settlers, discourage New York settlers, and not act as a New York justice, "upon pain of having his house burnt and reduced to ashes and his person punished at their pleasure." He was then dismissed with the following certificate:

Arlington, Nov. 25, A.D. 1773. These may sertify that Jacob Marsh haith been examined, and had a fare trial, so that our mob shall not meadel farther with him as long as he behaves.

Sertified by us as his judges, to wit,

Nathaniel Spencer,
Saml. Tubs,
Philip Perry.

On reaching home, Marsh found that the roof of his house had been publicly taken off by the Green Mountain Boys.

Spencer in his letter to Duane, April 11, 1772, wrote: "One Ethan Allen hath brought from Connecticut twelve or fifteen of the most blackguard fellows he can get, double-armed, in order to protect him." This same Spencer, after acting as a Whig and one of the Council of Safety, deserted to Burgoyne in 1777, and died a few weeks after at Ticonderoga.

Benjamin Hough, of Clarendon, was a troublesome New York justice. His neighbors seized him and carried him thirty miles south in a sleigh. After three days, January 30, 1775, he was tried in Sunderland before Allen and others. His punishment was two hundred lashes on the naked back while he was tied to a tree. Allen and Warner signed a written certificate as a burlesque passport for Hough to New York, "he behaving as becometh."

At this time the following open letters from the Green Mountain Boys were published:

An epistle to the inhabitants of Clarendon: From Mr. Francis Madison of your town, I understand Oliver Colvin of your town has acted the infamous part by locating part of the farm of said Madison. This sort of trick I was partly apprised of, when I wrote the late letter to Messrs. Spencer and Marsh. I abhor to put a staff into the hands of Colvin or any other rascal to defraud your letter. The Hampshire title must, nay shall, be had for such settlers as are in quest of it, at a reasonable rate, nor shall any villain by a sudden purchase impose on the old settlers. I advise said Colvin to be flogged for the abuse aforesaid, unless he immediately retracts and reforms, and if there be further difficulties among you, I advise that you employ Capt. Warner as an arbitrator in your affairs. I am certain he will do all parties justice. Such candor you need in your present situation, for I assure you, it is not the design of our mobs to betray you into the hands of villainous purchasers. None but blockheads would purchase your farms, and they must be treated as such. If this letter does not settle this dispute, you had better hire Captain Warner to come simply and assist you in the settlement of your affairs. My business is such that I cannot attend to your matters in person, but desire you would inform me, by writing or otherwise relative thereto. Captain Baker joins with the foregoing, and does me the honor to subscribe his name with me. We are, gentlemen, your friends to serve.

Ethan Allen,
Remember Baker.

To Mr. Benjamin Spencer and Mr. Amos Marsh, and the people of Clarendon in general:

Gentlemen:—On my return from what you called the mob, I was concerned for your welfare, fearing that the force of our arms would urge you to purchase the New Hampshire title at an unreasonable rate, tho' at the same time I know not but after the force is withdrawn, you will want a third army. However, on proviso, you incline to purchase the title aforesaid, it is my opinion, that you in justice ought to have it at a reasonable rate, as new lands were valued at the time you purchased them. This, with sundry other arguments in your behalf, I laid before Captain Jehiel Hawley and other respectable gentlemen of that place (Arlington) and by their advice and concurrence, I write you this friendly epistle unto which they subscribe their names with me, that we are disposed to assist you in purchasing reasonably as aforesaid; and on condition Colonel Willard, or any other person demand an exorbitant price for your lands we scorn it, and will assist you in mobbing such avaricious persons, for we mean to use force against oppression, and that only. Be it in New York, Willard, or any person, it is injurious to the rights of the district.

From yours to serve.

Ethan Allen,
Jehiel Hawley,
Daniel Castle,
Gideon Hawley,
Reuben Hawley,
Abel Hawley.

The convention had decreed that no officer from New York should attempt to take any person out of its territory, on penalty of a severe punishment, and it forbade any surveyor to run lines through the lands or inspect them with that purpose. This edict enlarged the powers of the military commanders, and it was their duty to search out such offenders. The Committees of Safety which were chosen were entrusted with powers for regulating local affairs, and the conventions of delegates representing the people, which assembled from time to time, adopted measures tending to harmony and concentration of effort.

May 19, 1772 (the year in which occurred Poland's first dismemberment), Governor Tryon wrote to Bennington and vicinity, inviting the citizens to send delegates to him and explain the causes of their opposition to New York rule. Could anything be fairer or more politic and wise? He promised safety to any and all sent, except four of their leaders, Allen, Warner, Cochran, and Sevil, and suggested sending their pastor, J. Dewey, and Mr. Fay. Dewey answered on June 5:

We, his Majesty's leal and loyal subjects of the Province of New York.... First, we hold fee of our land by grants of George II., and George III., the lands reputed then in New Hampshire. Since 1764, New York has granted the same land as though the fee of the land and property was altered with jurisdiction, which we suppose was not.... Suits of law for our lands rejecting our proof of title, refusing time to get our evidence are the grounds of our discontent.... Breaking houses for possession of them and their owners, firing on these people and wounding innocent women and children.... We must closely adhere to the maintaining our property with a due submission to Your Excellency's jurisdiction.... We pray and beseech Your Excellency would assist to quiet us in our possessions, till his Majesty in his royal wisdom shall be graciously pleased to settle the controversy.

Allen, not being allowed to go to New York, wrote to Tryon in conjunction with Warner, Baker, and Cochran, stating the case as follows:

No consideration whatever, shall induce us to remit in the least of our loyalty and gratitude to our most Gracious Sovereign, and reasonably to you; yet no tyranny shall deter us from asserting and vindicating our rights and privileges as Englishmen. We expect an answer to our humble petition, delivered you soon after you became Governor, but in vain. We assent to your jurisdiction, because it is the King's will, and always have, except where perverse use would deprive us of our property and country. We desire and petition to be reannexed to New Hampshire. That is not the principal cause we object to, but we think change made by fraud, unconstitutional exercise of it. The New York patentees got judgments, took out writs, and actually dispossessed several by order of law, of their houses and farms and necessaries. These families spent their fortunes in bringing wilderness into fruitful fields, gardens and orchards. Over fifteen hundred families ejected, if five and one-quarter persons are allowed to each family.... The writs of ejectment come thicker and faster.... Nobody can be supposed under law if law does not protect.... Since our misfortune of being annexed to New York, law is a tool to cheat us.... Fatigued in settling a wilderness country.... As our cause is before the King, we do not expect you to determine it.... If we don't oppose Sheriff, he takes our houses and farms. If we do, we are indicted rioters. If our friends help us, they are indicted rioters. As to refugees, self-preservation necessitated our treating some of them roughly. Ebenezer Cowle and Jonathan Wheat, of Shaftsbury, fled to New York, because of their own guilt, they not being hurt nor threatened. John Munro, Esq., and ruffians, assaulting Baker at daybreak, March 22, was a notorious riot, cutting, wounding and maiming Mr. Baker, his wife and children. As Baker is alive he has no cause of complaint. Later he (Munro) assaulted Warner who, with a dull cutlass, struck him on the head to the ground. As laws are made by our enemies, we could not bring Munro to justice otherwise than by mimicing him, and treating him as he did Baker, and so forth. Bliss Willoughby, feigning business, went to Baker's house and reported to Munro, thus instigating and planning the attack.... The alteration of jurisdiction in 1764 could not affect private property.... The transferring or alienation of property is a sacred prerogative of the true owner. Kings and Governors cannot intermeddle therewith.... We have a petition lying before his Majesty and Council for redress of our grievances for several years past. In Moore's time, the King forbid New York to patent any lands before granted by New Hampshire. This a supercedeas of Common Law. King notifying New York he takes cognizance and will settle and forbids New York to meddle: common sense teaches a common law, judgment after that, if it prevailed, would be subversive of royal authority. So all officers coming to dispossess are violaters of law. Right and wrong are externally the same. We are not opposing you and your Government, but a party chiefly attorneys. We hear you applied to assembly for armed force to subdue us in vain. We choose Captain Stephen Fay and Mr. Jonas Fay, to treat with you in person. We entreat your aid to quiet us in our farms till the King decides it.[1]

The embassy was successful. The council advised that all legal processes against Vermont should cease. If Bennington was happy in May over the invitation, Bennington was jubilant in August over the kindly advice. The air rang with shouts; the health of governor and council was drunk and cannon and small-arms were heard everywhere. No part of New York colony was happier or more devotedly British. Two years had passed since the New York Supreme Court had adjudged all the Vermont legal documents null and void: one year had passed since New York had sent a sheriff and posse with hundreds of citizens to force Vermont farmers from their farms, but both of these affairs occurred under Governor Clinton. Now perhaps, the Vermonters thought, the new governor was going to act fairly: there would be no more fights; no more watching and guarding against midnight attacks; no more need of fire-arms; and wives and babes would be safe. There would be no more kidnapping of Green Mountain Boys and hurrying them away to Albany jail; no more foreign surveying of the lands they tilled and loved.

[CHAPTER V.]

THE RAID UPON COLONEL REID'S SETTLERS.—ALLEN'S OUTLAWRY.—CREAN BRUSH.—PHILIP SKENE.

But "best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley." While these negotiations were pending, New Yorkers were quietly doing the necessary work for stealing more Vermont lands. Cockburn, the Scotch New York surveyor, was surveying land along Otter Creek. The Green Mountain Boys heard of it, rallied, and overtook him near Vergennes, and found Colonel Reid's Scotchmen enjoying mills and farms. For three years these foreigners had been there. In 1769, with no legal title, they had found, seized, and enjoyed the land, with a mill. Vermonters had then rallied and dispossessed these dispossessors, but a second raid of Reid's men redispossessed them. In the summer of 1772, Vermont, seizing Cockburn, turned out Reid's tenants, broke up mill-stones and threw them over the falls, razed houses, and burned crops.

The Scotch story is as follows: John Cameron made affidavit that he and some other families from Scotland arrived at New York in the latter part of June, and a few days afterward agreed with Lieutenant-Colonel Reid to settle as tenants on his lands on Otter Creek, in Charlotte County. Reid went with them to Otter Creek, some miles east from Crown Point, and was at considerable expense in transporting them, their wives, children, and baggage. The day after their arrival at Otter Creek they were viewing the land, where they saw a crop of Indian corn, wheat, and garden stuff, and a stack of hay and two New England men. Reid paid these two men $15 for their crops, the men agreeing to leave until the king's pleasure should be known. Reid made over these crops to his new tenants, gave them possession of the land in presence of two justices of the peace of Charlotte County, and bought some provisions and cows for his tenants. On or about the 11th of August, armed men from different parts of the country came and turned James Henderson and others out of their homes, burnt the houses to the ground, and for two days pastured fifty horses which they had brought with them in a field of corn which Reid had bought. They also burnt a large stack of hay, purchased by Reid. The next day the rioters, headed by their captains, Allen, Baker, and Warner, came to Cameron's house, destroyed the new grist-mill, built by Reid (Baker insisting upon it), broke the mill-stones in pieces and threw them down a precipice into the river. The rioters then turned out Cameron's wife and two small children, and burnt the house, having in the two days burnt five houses, two corn shades, and one stack of hay. When Cameron, much incensed, asked by what authority of law they committed such violences, Baker replied that they lived out of the bounds of law, and holding up his gun said that was his law. He further declared that they were resolved never to allow any persons claiming under New York to settle in that part of the province, but if Cameron would join them, they would give him lands for nothing. This offer Cameron rejected. While the rioters were destroying his house and mill on the Crown Point (west) side of Otter Creek, he heard six men ordered to go with arms and stand as sentinels on a rising ground toward Crown Point, to prevent any surprise from the troops in the garrison there. Having destroyed Cameron's house and the mill, the rioters recrossed the river. Cameron reports that he saw among the rioters Joshua Hide, who had agreed in writing with Reid not to return, and had received payment for his crop. Hide was very active in advising the destruction of Cameron's house and the mill.

Cameron stayed about three weeks at Otter Creek, after the rioters dispersed, hoping to hear from Reid, and hoping also that New York would protect him and his fellow-settlers, but having no house, and being exposed to the night air, the fever and ague soon compelled him to retire. Some of his companions went before, the rest were to follow. What became of his wife and children he does not state. Cameron stayed one night at the house of a Mr. Irwin, on the east shore of the lake, five miles north of Crown Point. Irwin, an elderly man, holding a New Hampshire title, told Cameron that Reid had a narrow escape, for Baker with eight men had laid in wait for him a whole day, near the mouth of Otter Creek, determined to murder him, and the men in the boat with him, on their way back to Crown Point, so that none might remain to tell tales. Fortunately Reid had left the day before. Irwin disapproved of such bloody intentions, and said if his land was confirmed to a Yorker, he would either buy the Yorker's title or move off.

James Henderson, settler under Colonel Reid, deposed that on Wednesday, August 11, he and three others of Colonel Reid's settlers were at work at their hay in the meadow, when twenty men, armed with guns, swords, and pistols, surprised them. They inquired if Henderson and his companions lived in the house some time before occupied by Joshua Hide. They replied no, the men who lived in that house were about their business. The rioters then told Henderson and his companions that they must go along with them (as they could not understand the women), and marched them prisoners, guarded before and behind like criminals, to the house, where they joined the rest of the mob, in number about one hundred or more, all armed as before, and who, as Henderson was told by the women, had let their horses loose in the corn and wheat that Reid had bought for his settlers. The mob desired the things to be taken out of the house, and then set the house on fire. Ethan Allen, the ringleader or captain, then ordered part of his gang to go with Henderson to his own house (formerly built and occupied by Captain Gray) in order to prepare it for the same fate. Henderson and his wife earnestly requested the mob to spare their house for a few days, in order to save their effects and protect their children from the inclemency of the weather, until they could have an opportunity of removing themselves to some safe place; but Captain Allen, coming up from the fore-mentioned house, told them that his business required haste; for he and his gang were determined not to leave a house belonging to Colonel Reid standing. Then the mob set fire to and entirely consumed Henderson's house. Henderson took out his memorandum book and desired to know their ringleader's or captain's name. The captain answered: "Who gave you authority to ask for my name?" Henderson replied that as he took him to be the ringleader of the mob, and as he had in such a riotous and unlawful manner dispossessed him, he had a right to ask his name, that he might represent him to Colonel Reid, who had put him, Henderson, in peaceable possession of the premises as his just property. Allen answered, he wished they had caught Colonel Reid; they would have whipped him severely; that his name was Ethan Allen, captain of that mob, and that his authority was his own arms, pointing to his gun; that he and his companions were a lawless mob, their law being mob law. Henderson replied that the law was made for lawless and riotous people, and that he must know it was death by the law to ringleaders of rioters and lawless mobs. Allen answered that he had run these woods in the same manner these seven years past [this would carry it back to the year 1766, when Zadoc Thompson says Allen's family was living in Sheffield] and never was caught yet; and he told Henderson that if any of Colonel Reid's settlers offered hereafter to build any house and keep possession, the Green Mountain Boys, as they call themselves, would burn their houses and whip them into the bargain. The mob then burnt the house formerly built and occupied by Lewis Stewart, and remained that night about Leonard's house. The next day, about seven A.M., August 12, Henderson went to Leonard's house. The mob were all drawn up, consulting about destroying the mill. Those who were in favor of it were ordered to follow Captain Allen. In the mean time Baker and his gang came to the opposite side of the river and fired their guns. They were brought over at once, and while they were taking some refreshment, Allen's party marched to the mill, but did not break up any part of it until Allen joined them. The two mobs having joined (by their own account one hundred and fifty in number), with axes, crow-bars, and handspikes tore the mill to pieces, broke the mill-stones and threw them into the creek. Baker came out of the mill with the bolt-cloth in his hands. With his sword he cut it in pieces and distributed it among the mob to wear in their hats like cockades, as trophies of the victory. Henderson told Baker he was about very disagreeable work. Baker replied it was so, but he had a commission for so doing, and showed Henderson where his thumb had been cut off, which he called his commission.

Angus McBean, settler under Colonel Reid, deposed that between seven and eight A.M., Thursday, August 12 last, he met a part of the New England mob about Leonard's house, sixty men or thereabouts, he supposed, armed with guns, swords, and pistols. One of them asked Angus if he were one of Colonel Reid's new settlers, and having been told he was, asked him what he intended to do. McBean replied he intended to build himself a house and keep possession of the land. He was then asked if he intended to keep possession for Colonel Reid. He replied yes, as long as he could. Soon after their chief leader, Allen, came and asked him if he was the man that said he would keep possession for Colonel Reid. McBean said yes. Allen then damned his soul, but he would have him, McBean, tied to a tree and skinned alive, if he ever attempted such a thing. Allen and several of the mob said, if they could but catch Colonel Reid, they would cut his head off. Joshua Hide, one of the persons of whom Colonel Reid bought the crop, advised the mob to tear down or burn the houses of Donald McIntosh and John Burdan, as they both had been assisting Colonel Reid. Soon after several guns were fired on the other side of the creek. Some of the mob said that was Captain Baker and his party coming to see the sport. Soon Baker and his party joined the mob, and all went to tear down the grist-mill. McBean thought Baker was one of the first that entered the mill.

However strong our indignation at the New York usurpations, we cannot read of the violent ejectment of families without a feeling of repugnance to such a method. Turn to the vivid and romantic account of Colonel Reid's settlement in "The Tory's Daughter," and remember that in civil strife the innocent must often suffer. The Green Mountain Boys' immunity from the penalty of the law for their riotous acts shows not only their adroitness, but suggests half-heartedness in their pursuit. Laws not supported by public sentiment are rarely enforced.

John Munroe wrote to Duane during the Clarendon proceedings:

The rioters have a great many friends in the county of Albany, and particularly in the city of Albany, which encourages them in their wickedness, at the same time hold offices under the Government, and pretend to be much against them, but at heart I know them to be otherwise, for the rioters have often told me, that be it known to me, that they had more friends in Albany than I had, which I believe to be true.

Hugh Munro lived near the west line of Shaftsbury. He took Surveyor Campbell to survey land in Rupert for him. He was seized by Cochran, who said he was a son of Robin Hood, and beaten. Ira Allen says Munro fainted from whipping by bush twigs. Munro had not a savory reputation with the Vermonters. After Tryon's offer of a reward for the arrest of Allen, Baker, and Cochran, he, with ten or twelve other men, had seized Baker, who lived ten or twelve miles from him, a mile east of Arlington. After a march of sixteen miles, they were met by ten Bennington men, who arrested Munro and Constable Stevens, the rest of the party fleeing. Later Warner and one man rode to Munro's and asked for Baker's gun. Munro refused, and seizing Warner's bridle ordered the constable to arrest Warner, who drew his cutlass and felled Munro to the ground. For this act of Warner's, Poultney voted him one hundred acres of land April 4, 1773.

In 1774 Allen published a pamphlet of over two hundred pages, in which he rehearsed many historical facts tending to show that previous to the royal order of 1764, New York had no claim to extend easterly to the Connecticut River. He portrayed in strong light the oppressive conduct of New York toward the settlers. This pamphlet also contained the answer of himself and of his associates to the Act of Outlawry of March, 1774. Another man was busy this year drawing up reports of the trouble in Vermont.

Crean Brush, the first Vermont lawyer, was a colonel, a native of Dublin. In 1762 he came to New York and became assistant secretary of the colony; in 1771-74 he practised law in Westminster, Vt. He claimed thousands of Vermont acres under New York titles, and became county clerk, surrogate, and provincial member of Congress. He was in Boston jail nineteen months for plundering Boston whigs, and finally escaped in his wife's dress. The British commander in New York told him his conduct merited more punishment. A Yorker, always fighting the Green Mountain Boys; a tory, always fighting the whigs; with fair culture and talent, he became a sot, and, at the age of fifty-three, in 1778, he blew his brains out, in New York City. He left a step-daughter who became the second wife of Ethan Allen.

On February 5, 1774, Brush reported to the New York Legislature resolutions to the effect "that riotousness exists in part of Charlotte County and northeast Albany County, calling for redress; that a Bennington mob has terrorized officers, rescued debtors, assumed military command and judicial power, burned houses, beat citizens, expelled thousands, stopped the administration of justice; that anti-rioters are in danger in person and property and need protection. Wherefore the Governor is petitioned to offer fifty pounds reward for the apprehension and lodgment in Albany jail of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran, Peleg Sunderland, Silvanus Brown, James Breakenridge, and John Smith, either or any of them." It was ordered that Brush and Colonel Ten Eyck report a bill for the suppression of riotous and disorderly proceedings. Captain Delaney and Mr. Walton were appointed to present the address and resolutions to the governor.

A committee met March 1, 1774, at Eliakim Weller's house in Manchester, adjourning to the third Wednesday at Captain Jehial Hawley's in Arlington. Nathan Clark was chairman of the committee and Jonas Clark clerk. The New York Mercury, No. 1,163, with the foregoing report in it, was produced and read. Seven of the committee were chosen to examine it and prepare a report, which was adopted and ordered published in the public papers. They speak of their misfortune in being annexed to New York, and hope that the king will adopt the report of the Board of Trade, made December 3, 1772. In consequence, hundreds of settled families, many of them comparatively wealthy, resolved to defend the outlawed men. All were ready at a minute's warning. They resolved to act on the defensive only, and to encourage the execution of law in civil cases and in real criminal cases. They advised the General Assembly to wait for the king's decision. The committee declared that they were all loyal to their political father; but that as they bought of the first governor appointed by the king, on the faith of the crown, they will maintain those grants; that New York has acted contrary to the spirit of the good laws of Great Britain. This declaration was certified by the chairman and clerk, at Bennington, April 14, 1774.

It was in 1774 that a new plan was formed for escaping from the government of New York; a plan that startles us by its audacity and its comprehensiveness. This was to establish a new royal colony extending from the Connecticut to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, from forty-five degrees of north latitude to Massachusetts and the Mohawk River. The plan was formed by Allen and other Vermonters. At that time Colonel Philip Skene, a retired British officer, was living at Whitehall on a large patent of land. To him the Vermonters communicated the project. Whitehall was to be the capital and Skene the governor of the projected colony. Skene, at his own expense, went to London, and was appointed governor of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, but the course of public events prevented the completion of this scheme.

[CHAPTER VI.]

PREPARATIONS TO CAPTURE TICONDEROGA.—DIARY OF EDWARD MOTT.—EXPEDITIONS PLANNED.—BENEDICT ARNOLD.—GERSHOM BEACH.

On March 29, 1775, John Brown, a Massachusetts lawyer, wrote from Montreal to Boston:

The people on the New Hampshire Grants have engaged to seize the fort at Ticonderoga as soon as possible, should hostilities be committed by the king's troops.

The most minute account of the preparations to capture Ticonderoga is furnished by the diary for April, 1775, of Edward Mott, of Preston, Conn., a captain in Colonel S. H. Parson's regiment. He had been at the camp of the American army beleaguering Boston; took charge of the expedition to seize Ticonderoga; reported its success to Governor Trumbull at Hartford; was sent by Trumbull to Congress at Philadelphia with the news; resumed the command of his company at Ticonderoga in May; was with the Northern army during the campaign; was at the taking of Chambly and St. Johns; and became a major in Colonel Gray's regiment next year.

Preston, Friday, April 28, 1775.

Set out for Hartford, where I arrived the same day. Saw Christopher Leffingwell, who inquired of me about the situation of the people at Boston. When I had given him an account, he asked me how they could be relieved and where I thought we could get artillery and stores. I told him I knew not unless we went and took possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, which I thought might be done by surprise with a small number of men. Mr. Leffingwell left me and in a short time came to me again, and brought with him Samuel H. Parsons and Silas Deane, Esqrs. When he asked me if I would undertake in such an expedition as we had talked of before, I told him I would. They told me they wished I had been there one day sooner; that they had been on such a plan; and that they had sent off Messrs. Noah Phelps and Bernard Romans, whom they had supplied with £300 in cash from the treasury, and ordered them to draw for more if they should need; that said Phelps and Romans had gone by the way of Salisbury, where they would make a stop. They expected a small number of men would join them, and if I would go after them they would give me an order or letter to them to join with them and to have my voice with them in conducting the affair and in laying out the money; and also that I might take five or six men with me. On which I took with me Mr. Jeremiah Halsey, Mr. Epaphras Bull, Mr. Wm. Nichols, Mr. Elijah Babcock, and John Bigelow joined me; and Saturday, the 29th of April, in the afternoon, we set out on said expedition. Mr. Babcock tired his horse. We got another horse of Esq. Humphrey in Norfolk, and that day arrived at Salisbury; tarried all night, and the next day, having augmented our company to the number of sixteen in the whole, we concluded it was not best to add any more, as we meant to keep our business a secret and ride through the country unarmed till we came to the New Settlements on the Grants. We arrived at Mr. Dewey's in Sheffield, and there we sent off Mr. Jer. Halsey and Capt. John Stevens to go to Albany, in order to discover the temper of the people in that place, and to return and inform us as soon as possible.

That night (Monday the 1st of May) we arrived at Col. Easton's in Pittsfield, where we fell in company with John Brown, Esq., who had been at Canada and Ticonderoga about a month before; on which we concluded to make known our business to Col. Easton and said Brown and to take their advice on the same. I was advised by Messrs. Deane, Leffingwell, and Parsons not to raise our men till we came to the New Hampshire Grants, lest we should be discovered by having too long a march through the country. But when we advised with the said Easton and Brown they advised us that, as there was a great scarcity of provisions in the Grants, and as the people were generally poor, it would be difficult to get a sufficient number of men there; therefore we had better raise a number of men sooner. Said Easton and Brown concluded to go with us, and Easton said he would assist me in raising some men in his regiment. We then concluded for me to go with Col. Easton to Jericho and Williamstown to raise men, and the rest of us to go forward to Bennington and see if they could purchase provisions there.

We raised twenty-four men in Jericho and fifteen in Williamstown; got them equipped ready to march. Then Col. Easton and I set out for Bennington. That evening we met with an express for our people informing us that they had seen a man directly from Ticonderoga and he informed them that they were re-enforced at Ticonderoga, and were repairing the garrison, and were every way on their guard; therefore it was best for us to dismiss the men we had raised and proceed no further, as we should not succeed. I asked who the man was, where he belonged, and where he was going, but could get no account; on which I ordered that the men should not be dismissed, but that we should proceed. The next day I arrived at Bennington. There overtook our people, all but Mr. Noah Phelps and Mr. Heacock, who were gone forward to reconnoitre the fort: and Mr. Halsey and Mr. Stevens had not got back from Albany.

The following account of expenses incurred on this expedition is amusing, pitiful, and interesting, as evidence of the small beginnings of the Revolution, and as compared with the machinery of transportation and the wealth of the nation in its Civil War:

Account of Captain Edward Mott for his expenses going to Ticonderoga and afterwards against the Colony of Connecticut:

The 3d of May, 1775, is an eventful day. Four scenes interest us. At Albany there is hesitation. Halsey and Stevens have been there to obtain permission for the Ticonderoga expedition. The Albany committee-men are alarmed, for the proposition seems to be hazardous. What will the New York Congress think of it? Will the next Continental Congress, to meet seven days hence, approve of it? The committee write to the New York Congress for instructions, suggesting that if New York goes in for the invasion it will plunge northern New York into all the horrors of war.

A second scene is at Cambridge. The Committee of Safety, without waiting for permission from New York, decided to act. They issue a commission to Arnold without consulting the Massachusetts Congress, and authorize him to raise four hundred men in western Massachusetts and near colonies for the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point; they give him money and authority to seize and send military stores to Massachusetts. We can imagine Arnold quickly in the saddle, for the enterprise suits his genius.

Benedict Arnold was now thirty-five years old; educated in the common schools, apprenticed as a druggist, fond of mischief, cruel, irritable, reckless of his reputation, ambitious and uncontrollable. As a boy he loved to maim young birds, placed broken glass where school-children would cut their feet, and enticed them with presents and then rushed out and horsewhipped them. He would cling to the arms of a large water-wheel at the grist-mill and thus pass beneath and above the water. When sixteen years of age he enlisted as a soldier, was released; enlisted again, was at Ticonderoga and other frontier forts; deserted; served out his apprenticeship, became a druggist and general merchant in New Haven; shipped horses, cattle, and provisions to the West Indies, commanded his own vessels, fought a duel with a Frenchman in the West Indies, became a bankrupt, and was suspected of dishonesty. Fertile in resource, he resumed business with energy but with the same obliquity of moral purpose.

With sixty volunteers, a few of them Yale students, marching from New Haven to Cambridge, he had an interview with Colonel Samuel H. Parsons near Hartford the 27th of April, and told him about the cannon and ammunition at Ticonderoga and the defenceless condition of that fort. Such was the man who endeavored to wrest the command of the expedition from Allen.

But the grandest scene of all on that 3d of May is the assemblage in Bennington, perhaps in the old Catamount Tavern of Stephen Fay. Allen, Warner, Robinson, Dr. Jonas Fay, Joseph Fay, Breakenridge are there with fifteen Connecticut men and thirty-nine Massachusetts men. Easton's Massachusetts men outnumber Warner's recruits, and Warner ranks third instead of second. No one dreams of any one but Allen for the leader. Easton is also complimented by being made chairman of the council. Allen with his usual energy takes the initiative and leaves the party to raise more men. He has been gone but a short time when Benedict Arnold arrives on horseback with one attendant at the hamlet and camp of Castleton. He sees Nott and other officers. They frankly communicate to him all their plans, and are in turn astounded by Arnold's claiming the right to take command of their whole force. He shows them his commission from the Committee of Safety in Cambridge, Mass. This paper gave authority to enlist men, but no more power over these men than any other American volunteers. Arnold's temper brooked no opposition. There is almost a mutiny among the men. They would go home, abandon the whole expedition which had so enkindled their enthusiasm, rather than be subject to Arnold. Whether this was owing to his domineering temper as exhibited before them, to his reputation in Connecticut as an unprincipled man, or entirely to their regard for their own officers and aversion to others, we can only conjecture. Tuesday morning this wrangling is resumed. Again the soldiers threaten to club their guns and go home. When told that they should be paid the same, although Arnold did command them, they would "damn" their pay. But Arnold suddenly started to leave this company and overtake Allen. The soldiers, knowing Allen's good-nature, as suddenly leave Castleton and follow Arnold to prevent his overpersuading Allen to yield to his arrogance.

When this stampede occurred, Nott and Phelps with Herrick were with the thirty men on the march to Skenesborough. They left the Remington camp at Castleton, and had gone nearly to Hydeville. The stampede left all the provisions at Castleton, so that Nott and Phelps were obliged to return to Castleton, gather up the provisions, and follow the main party to Ticonderoga. They arrived in Shoreham too late to take part in the capture, but crossed the lake with Warner. This incident deprives us of the benefit of Nott's journal account of the capture itself, a loss to be deplored. Some time Tuesday, somewhere between Castleton and the lake, Allen and Arnold met, and the scene occurred which has been so often and so well told in romance and history.

Within three weeks after the world-renowned 19th of April, 1775, Ethan stood in Castleton with an old friend by his side, Gershom Beach, of Rutland, a whig blacksmith, intelligent, capable, and true. Besides some sixty Massachusetts and Connecticut allies, Allen is surrounded by from one to two hundred Green Mountain Boys. More men were wanted, and Beach was selected from the willing and eager crowd to go, like Roderick Dhu's messenger with the Cross of Fire, o'er hill and dale, across brook and swamp, from Castleton to Rutland, Pittsford, Brandon, Middlebury, and Shoreham. The distance was sixty miles, the time allowed twenty-four hours, the rallying-point a ravine at Hand's Point, Shoreham. Paul Revere rode on a good steed, over good roads, on a moonlight night, in a few hours. Gershom Beach went on foot, crossed Otter Creek twice, forded West Creek, East Creek, Furnace Brook, Neshobe River, Leicester River, Middlebury River, and walked through forests choked with underbrush, but at the end of the day allotted the men were warned and were hastening to the rendezvous. Then and not till then Beach threw himself on the ground and gave himself up to well-earned sleep. Let us give this hero his full meed of praise. After a few hours' rest he followed the men whom he had aroused and joined Allen.

[CHAPTER VII.]

CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA.

In the gray of the morning, Wednesday, May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen with eighty-three Green Mountain Boys crossed the lake. He frankly told his followers of the danger, but every gun was poised to dare that danger. Soon three huzzas rang out on the parade-ground of the sleeping fort. The English captain, De Laplace, not knowing that his nation had an enemy on this continent, asked innocently by what authority his surrender was demanded. Need I repeat the answer? No words in the language are more familiar than Allen's reply. The British colors were trailed before a power that had no national flag for more than two years afterward. A few hours later, that same day, the second session of the Continental Congress began at Philadelphia, the members all unaware and soon in part disapproving of this exploit of Allen's. The graphic account by the hero's own, pen is more life-like than that of any historian:

The first systematical and bloody attempt at Lexington to enslave America thoroughly electrified my mind, and fully determined me to take part with my country. And while I was wishing for an opportunity to signalize myself in its behalf, directions were privately sent to me from the then colony of Connecticut to raise the Green Mountain Boys, and if possible with them to surprise and take the fortress of Ticonderoga. This enterprise I cheerfully undertook; and after first guarding all the passes that led thither, to cut off all intelligence between the garrison and the country, made a forced march from Bennington and arrived at the lake opposite to Ticonderoga on the evening of the ninth day of May, 1775, with two hundred and thirty valiant Green Mountain Boys.

It was with the utmost difficulty that I procured boats to cross the lake. However, I landed eighty-three men near the garrison, and sent the boats back for the rear guard, commanded by Col. Seth Warner, but the day began to dawn and I found myself under a necessity to attack the fort before the rear could cross the lake, and, as it was viewed hazardous, I harangued the officers and soldiers in the following manner:

"Friends and fellow-soldiers, you have for a number of years past been a scourge and terror to arbitrary power. Your valor has been famed abroad and acknowledged, as appears by the advice and orders to me from the General Assembly of Connecticut to surprise and take the garrison now before us. I now propose to advance before you, and in person conduct you through the wicket-gate; for we must this morning either quit our pretensions to valor or possess ourselves of this fortress in a few minutes; and inasmuch as it is a desperate attempt which none but the bravest of men dare undertake, I do not urge it on any contrary to his will. You that will undertake voluntarily, poise your firelocks."

The men being at this time drawn up in three ranks, each poised his firelock. I ordered them to face to the right, and at the head of the centre file marched them immediately to the wicket-gate aforesaid, where I found a sentry posted who instantly snapped his fusee at me. I ran immediately toward him, and he retreated through the covered way into the parade within the garrison, gave a halloo, and ran under a bomb-proof. My party who followed me into the fort I formed on the parade in such a manner as to face the two barracks, which faced each other. The garrison being asleep, except the sentries, we gave three huzzas, which greatly surprised them. One of the sentries made a pass at one of my officers with a charge bayonet, and slightly wounded him. My first thought was to kill him with my sword, but in an instant I altered the design and fury of the blow to a slight cut on the side of the head; upon which he dropped his gun and asked quarter, which I readily granted him, and demanded of him the place where the commanding officer kept.

He showed me a pair of stairs in front of the barrack, on the west part of the garrison, which led up to a second story in said barrack, to which I immediately repaired, and ordered the commander, Captain De la Place, to come forth instantly, or I would sacrifice the whole garrison; at which the captain came immediately to the door with his breeches in his hand, when I ordered him to deliver me the fort instantly; he asked me by what authority I demanded it; I answered him, In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress. The authority of the Congress being very little known at that time, he began to speak again, but I interrupted him, and with my drawn sword over his head again demanded an immediate surrender of the garrison: with which he then complied and ordered his men to be forthwith paraded without arms, as he had given up the garrison.

In the mean time some of my officers had given orders, and in consequence thereof sundry of the barrack doors were beaten down, and about one-third of the garrison imprisoned, which consisted of the said commander, a Lieut. Feltham, a conducter of artillery, a gunner, two sergeants, and forty-four rank and file: about one hundred pieces of cannon, one thirteen-inch mortar, and a number of swords.

This surprise was carried into execution in the gray of the morning of the tenth day of May, 1775. The sun seemed to rise that morning with a superior lustre: and Ticonderoga and its dependencies smiled on its conquerors, who tossed about the flowing bowl, and wished success to Congress, and the liberty and freedom of America. Happy it was for me at that time, that the then future pages of the book of fate, which afterwards unfolded a miserable scene of two years and eight months' imprisonment, were hid from my view. But to return to my narrative. Col. Warner, with the rear guard, crossed the lake and joined me early in the morning, whom I sent off without loss of time with about one hundred men to take possession of Crown Point, which was garrisoned with a sergeant and twelve men; which he took possession of the same day, as also of upwards of one hundred pieces of cannon.

The soldierly qualities exhibited by Allen in the expedition seem to have been, first, reticence or concealment of purpose from the enemy; second, power of commanding enthusiastic obedience from his men; third, adaptation of means to object; fourth, alacrity; and, fifth, courage. Success gave a brilliant éclat to this effort, which time has only served to render more brilliant.

The following letters written by Allen furnish us with additional information which makes the whole affair stand out vividly for nineteenth-century readers:

Ticonderoga, May 11th, 1775.

To the Massachusetts Congress.

Gentlemen:—I have to inform you with pleasure unfelt before, that on break of day of the 10th of May, 1775, by the order of the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut, I took the fortress of Ticonderoga by storm. The soldiery was composed of about one hundred Green Mountain Boys and near fifty veteran soldiers from the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. The latter was under the command of Col. James Easton, who behaved with great zeal and fortitude not only in council, but in the assault. The soldiery behaved with such resistless fury, that they so terrified the King's Troops that they durst not fire on their assailants, and our soldiery was agreeably disappointed. The soldiery behaved with uncommon rancour when they leaped into the Fort: and it must be confessed that the Colonel has greatly contributed to the taking of that Fortress, as well as John Brown, Esq. Attorney at Law, who was also an able counsellor, and was personally in the attack. I expect the Colonies will maintain this Fort. As to the cannon and warlike stores, I hope they may serve the cause of liberty instead of tyranny, and I humbly implore your assistance in immediately assisting the Government of Connecticut in establishing a garrison in the reduced premises. Col. Easton will inform you at large.

From, gentlemen, your most obedient servant,

Ethan Allen.

Ticonderoga, May 12th, 1775.

To the Honorable Congress of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay or Council of War.

Honorable Sirs:—I make you a present of a major, a captain, and two lieutenants in the regular establishment for George the Third. I hope they may serve as ransomes for some of our friends at Boston, and particularly for Captain Brown of Rhode Island. A party of men under the command of Capt. Herrick has took possession of Skenesborough, imprisoned Major Skene, and seized a schooner of his. I expect in ten days time to have it rigged, manned, and armed with six or eight pieces of cannon, which, with the boats in our possession, I purpose to make an attack on the armed sloop of George the Third which is now cruising on Lake Champlain, and is about twice as big as the schooner. I hope in a short time to be authorized to acquaint your Honor that Lake Champlain and the fortifications thereon are subjected to the Colonies. The enterprise has been approbated by the officers and soldiery of the Green Mountain Boys, nor do I hesitate as to the success. I expect lives must be lost in the attack, as the commander of George's sloop is a man of courage, etc. I conclude Capt. Warner is by this time in possession of Crown Point, the ordnance, stores, etc. I conclude Governor Carleton will exert himself to oppose us, and command the Lake, etc. Messrs. Hickok, Halsey and Nichols have the charge of conducting the officers to Hartford. These gentlemen have been very assiduous and active in the late expedition. I depend upon your Honor's aid and assistance in a situation so contiguous to Canada. I subscribe myself your Honor's ever faithful, most obedient and humble servant,

Ethan Allen,

At present Commander of Ticonderoga.

To the Honorable Jonathan Trumbull, Esq., Capt. General and Governor of the Colony of Connecticut.

[CHAPTER VIII.]

ALLEN'S LETTERS TO THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, TO THE NEW YORK PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, AND TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS.

The Continental Congress, affected by sinister influences, favored the removal of the stores and cannon of Ticonderoga to the south end of Lake George. Allen wrote to Congress a vigorous remonstrance. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut protested, and the project was abandoned. On May 29th, 1775, from Crown Point, Allen addressed the Continental Congress as follows:

An abstract of the action of Congress has just come to hand: and though it approves of the taking the fortress on Lake Champlain and the artillery, etc., I am, nevertheless, much surprised that your Honors should recommend it to us to remove the artillery to the south end of Lake George, and there to make a stand; the consequences of which must ruin the frontier settlements, which are extended at least one hundred miles to the northward from that place. Probably your Honors were not informed of those settlements, which consist of several thousand families who are seated on that tract of country called the New Hampshire Grants. Those inhabitants, by making those valuable acquisitions for the Colonies, have incensed Governor Carleton and all the ministerial party in Canada against them; and provided they should, after all their good service in behalf of their country, be neglected and left exposed, they will be of all men the most consummately miserable....

If the King's troops be again in possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point and command the Lake, the Indians and Canadians will be much more inclined to join with them and make incursions into the heart of our country. But the Colonies are now in possession and actual command of the Lake, having taken the armed sloop from George the Third, which was cruising in the Lake, also seized a schooner belonging to Major Skene at South Bay, and have armed and manned them both.... The Canadians (all except the noblesse) and also the Indians appear at present to be very friendly to us; and it is my humble opinion that the more vigorous the Colonies push the war against the King's troops in Canada, the more friends we shall find in that country. Provided I had but 500 men with me at St. John's (18th May) when we took the King's sloop, I would have advanced to Montreal. Nothing strengthens our friends in Canada equal to our prosperity in taking the sovereignty of Lake Champlain, and should the Colonies forthwith send an army of two or three thousand men and attack Montreal, we should have little to fear from the Canadians or Indians, and should easily make a conquest of that place, and set up the standard of liberty in the extensive province of Quebec, whose limit was enlarged purely to subvert the liberties of America. Striking such a blow would intimidate the Tory party in Canada, the same as the commencement of the war at Boston intimidated the Tories in the Colonies. They are a set of gentlemen that will not be converted by reason, but are easily wrought upon by fear.

By a council of war held on board the sloop the 27th instant, it was agreed to advance to the Point Aufere with the sloop and schooner, and a number of armed boats well manned, and there make a stand, act on the defensive, and by all means command the Lake and defend the frontiers. Point Aufere is about six miles this side of forty-five degrees north latitude, but if the wisdom of the Continental Congress should view the proposed invasion of the King's troops in Canada as premature or impolitic, nevertheless, I humbly conceive, when your Honors come to the knowledge of the before-mentioned facts, you will at least establish some advantageous situation toward the northerly part of Lake Champlain, as a frontier, instead of the south promontory of Lake George. Commanding the northerly part of the Lake, puts it in our power to work our policy with the Canadians and Indians. We have made considerable proficiency this way already. Sundry tribes have been to visit us, and have returned to their tribes to use their influence in our favor. We have just sent Capt. Abraham Ninham, a Stockbridge Indian, as our embassador of peace to the several tribes of Indians in Canada. He was accompanied by Mr. Winthrop Hoit, who has been a prisoner with the Indians and understands their tongue. I do not imagine, provided we command Lake Champlain, there will be any need of a war with the Canadians or Indians.

On June 2, 1775, Allen addressed the New York Provincial Congress:

The pork forwarded to subsist the army, by your Honors' direction, evinces your approbation of the procedure; and as it was a private expedition, and common fame reports that there are a number of overgrown Tories in the province, your Honors will the readier excuse me in not first taking your advice in the matter, but the enterprises might have been prevented by their treachery. It is here reported that some of them have been lately savingly converted, and that others have lost their influence. If in those achievements there be anything honorary, the subjects of your government, viz., the New Hampshire settlers, are justly entitled to a large share, as they had a great majority of numbers of the soldiery as well as the command in making those acquisitions, and as your Honors justify and approve the same.

I desire and expect your Honors have, or soon will lay before the Grand Continental Congress, the great disadvantage it must inevitably be to the Colonies to evacuate Lake Champlain, and give up to the enemies of our country those invaluable acquisitions, the key of either Canada or our country, according as which party holds the same in possession and makes a proper improvement of it. The key is ours as yet, and provided the Colonies would suddenly push an army of two or three thousand men into Canada, they might make a conquest of all that would oppose them in the extensive province of Quebec, except a reinforcement from England should prevent it. Such a diversion would weaken General Gage or insure us of Canada.

I wish to God America would at this critical juncture exert herself agreeable to the indignity offered her by a tyrannical ministry. She might rise on eagle's wings, and mount up to glory, freedom, and immortal honor if she did but know and exert her strength. Fame is now hovering over her head. A vast continent must now sink to slavery, poverty, horror, and bondage, or rise to unconquerable freedom, immense wealth, inexpressible felicity, and immortal fame.

I will lay my life on it, with fifteen hundred men and a proper train of artillery I will take Montreal. Provided I could be thus furnished and if an army could command the field, it would be no insuperable difficulty to take Quebec. This object should be pursued, though it should take ten thousand men to accomplish the end proposed; for England cannot spare but a certain number of her troops, anyway, she has but a small number that are disciplined [this was months before the Hessians and other mercenaries were hired], and it is as long as it is broad the more that are sent to Quebec, the less they can send to Boston, or any other part of the continent.

Our friends in Canada can never help us until we first help them, except in a passive or inactive manner. There are now about seven hundred regular troops in Canada. I have lately had sundry conferences with the Indians; they are very friendly. Capt. Abraham Ninham, a Stockbridge Indian, and Mr. Winthrop Hoit, who has sundry years lived with the Caughnawgoes in the capacity of a prisoner and was made an adopted son to a motherly squaw of that tribe, have both been gone ten days to treat with the Indians as our embassadors of peace and friendship. I expect in a few weeks to hear from them. By them I sent a friendly letter to the Indians which Mr. Hoit can explain to them in Indian. The thing that so unites the Indians to us is our taking the sovereignty of Lake Champlain. They have wit enough to make a good bargain, and stand by the strongest side. Much the same may be said of the Canadians.

It may be thought that to push an army into Canada would be too premature and imprudent. If so, I propose to make a stand at the Isle-aux-Noix which the French fortified by intrenchment the last war, and greatly fatigued our large army to take it. It is about fifteen miles this side St. John's. Our only having it in our power thus to make incursions into Canada, might probably be the very reason why it would be unnecessary to do so, even if the Canadians should prove more refractory than I think for.

Lastly, with submission I would propose to your Honors to raise a small regiment of Rangers, which I could easily do, and that mostly in the counties of Albany and Charlotte, provided your Honors should think it expedient to grant commissions and thus regulate and put the same under pay. Probably your Honors may think this an impertinent proposal: it is truly the first favor I ever asked of the Government, and if it be granted, I shall be zealously ambitious to conduct for the best good of my country and the honor of the Government.

On June 9th Allen addressed the Massachusetts Congress:

These armed vessels are at present abundantly sufficient to command the Lake. The making these acquisitions has greatly attached the Canadians, and more especially the Indians, to our interest. They have no personal prejudice or controversy with the United Colonies, but act upon political principles, and consequently are inclined to fall in with the strongest side. At present ours has the appearance of it; as there are at present but seven hundred regular troops in all the different parts of Canada. Add to this the consideration of the imperious and haughty conduct of the troops, which has much alienated the affections of both the Canadians and Indians from them. Probably there may soon be more troops from England sent there, but at present you may rely on it that Canada is in a weak and helpless condition. Two or three thousand men, conducted by intrepid commanders, would at this juncture make a conquest of the ministerial party in Canada with such additional numbers as may be supposed to vie with the reinforcements that may be sent from England. Such a plan would make a diversion in favor of the Massachusetts Bay, who have been too much burdened with the calamity that should be more general, as all partake of the salutary effects of their valor and merit in the defence of the liberties of America. I hope, gentlemen, you will use your influence in forwarding men, provisions, and every article for the army that may be thought necessary. Blankets, provisions, and powder are scarce.

[CHAPTER IX.]

ALLEN'S LETTERS TO THE MONTREAL MERCHANTS, TO THE INDIANS IN CANADA, AND TO THE CANADIANS.—JOHN BROWN.

The letters to the Indians and Canadians to which Allen has referred show still more clearly the vigorous policy and the adroitness which Allen displayed in the preparations for the invasion of Canada. He wrote to the Montreal merchants:

St. John's, May 18th.

To Mr. James Morrison and the Merchants that are friendly to the Cause of Liberty in Montreal.

Gentlemen:—I have the pleasure to acquaint you that Lakes George and Champlain, with the fortresses, artillery, etc., particularly the armed sloop of George the Third, with all water carriages of these lakes, are now in possession of the Colonies. I expect the English merchants, as well as all virtuous disposed gentlemen, will be in the interest of the Colonies. The advanced guard of the army is now at St. John's, and desire immediately to have a personal intercourse with you. Your immediate assistance as to provisions, ammunition, and spirituous liquors is wanted and forthwith expected, not as a donation, for I am empowered by the Colonies to purchase the same; and I desire you would forthwith and without further notice prepare for the use of the army those articles to the amount of five hundred pounds, and deliver the same to me at St. John's, or at least a part of it almost instantaneously, as the soldiers press on faster than provisions.

I need not inform you that my directions from the Colonies are, not to contend with or any way injure or molest the Canadians or Indians; but, on the other hand, treat them with the greatest friendship and kindness. You will be pleased to communicate the same to them, and some of you immediately visit me at this place, while others are active in delivering the provisions.

On May 24, 1775, Allen addressed a letter to the Indians of Canada:

Headquarters of the Army, Crown Point.

By advice of council of the officers, I recommend our trusty and well-beloved friend and brother, Capt. Abraham Ninham of Stockbridge, as our embassador of peace to our good brother Indians of the four tribes, viz., the Hocnaurigoes, the Surgaches, the Canesadaugaus and the Saint Fransawas.

Loving brothers and friends, I have to inform you that George the Third, King of England, has made war with the English Colonies in America, who have ever until now been his good subjects, and sent his army and killed some of your good friends and brothers at Boston, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. Then your good brothers in that Province, and in all the Colonies of English America, made war with King George and have begun to kill the men of his army, and have taken Ticonderoga and Crown Point from him, and all the artillery, and also a great sloop which was at St. Johns, and all the boats in the lake, and have raised and are raising two great armies; one is destined for Boston, and the other for the fortresses and department of Lake Champlain, to fight the King's troops that oppose the Colonies from Canada; and as King George's soldiers killed our brothers and friends in a time of peace, I hope, as Indians are good and honest men, you will not fight for King George against your friends in America, as they have done you no wrong, and desire to live with you as brothers. You know it is good for my warriors and Indians too, to kill the Regulars, because they first began to kill our brothers in this country without cause.

I was always a friend to Indians and have hunted with them many times, and know how to shoot and ambush like Indians, and am a great hunter. I want to have your warriors come and see me, and help me fight the King's Regular troops. You know they stand all along close together rank and file, and my men fight so as Indians do, and I want your warriors to join with me and my warriors like brothers and ambush the Regulars: if you will I will give you money, blankets, tomahawks, knives, paint, and anything there is in the army, just like brothers; and I will go with you into the woods to scout, and my men and your men will sleep together and eat and drink together, and fight Regulars because they first killed our brothers and will fight against us; therefore I want our brother Indians to help us fight, for I know Indians are good warriors and can fight well in the bush.

Ye know my warriors must fight, but if you, our brother Indians, do not fight on either side, we will still be friends and brothers; and you may come and hunt in our woods, and come with your canoes in the lake, and let us have venison at our forts on the lake, and have rum, bread, and what you want, and be like brothers. I have sent our friend Winthrop Hoit to treat with you on our behalf in friendship. You know him, for he has lived with you, and is your adopted son, and is a good man; Captain Ninham of Stockbridge and he will tell you about the whole matter more than I can write. I hope your warriors will come and see me. So I bid all my brother Indians farewell.

Ethan Allen,

Colonel of the Green Mountain Boys.

Two days after the date of this letter Allen sent a copy of it to the Assembly of Connecticut, saying: "I thought it advisable that the Honorable Assembly should be informed of all our politicks."

Allen shows great shrewdness in adapting his letters to what he considers the aboriginal mind. Addressing the Indians constantly as brothers he appeals to their love of bush-fighting, and as regards the question of barter, to their love of rum. By his reiteration he recognizes the childish immaturity of the Indian. Far differently he addresses the Canadians, to whose reason he appeals and whose sense of justice he compliments:

Ticonderoga, June 4.

Countrymen and Friends, the French people of Canada, greeting:

Friends and Fellow-Countrymen:—You are undoubtedly more or less acquainted with the unnatural and unhappy controversy subsisting between Great Britain and her Colonies, the particulars of which in this letter we do not expatiate upon, but refer your considerations of the justice and equitableness thereof on the part of the Colonies, to the former knowledge that you have of this matter. We need only observe that the inhabitants of the Colonies view the controversy on their part to be justifiable in the sight of God, and all unprejudiced and honest men that have or may have opportunity and ability to examine into the merits of it. Upon this principle those inhabitants determine to vindicate their cause, and maintain their natural and constitutional rights and liberties at the expense of their lives and fortunes, but have not the least disposition to injure, molest, or in any way deprive our fellow-subjects, the Canadians, of their liberty or property. Nor have they any design to urge war against them; and from all intimations that the inhabitants of the said Colonies have received from the Canadians, it has appeared that they were alike disposed for friendship and neutrality, and not at all disposed to take part with the King's troops in the present civil war against the Colonies.

We were, nevertheless, surprised to hear that a number of about thirty Canadians attacked our reconnoitring party consisting of four men, fired on them, and pursued them, and obliged them to return the fire. This is the account of the party that has since arrived at headquarters. We desire to know of any gentlemen Canadians the facts of the case, as one story is good until another is told. Our general order to the soldiery was, that they should not, on pain of death, molest or kill any of your people. But if it shall appear, upon examination, that our reconnoitring party commenced hostilities against your people, they shall suffer agreeable to the sentence of a court-martial; for our special orders from the Colonies are to befriend and protect you if need be; so that if you desire their friendship you are invited to embrace it, for nothing can be more undesirable to your friends in the Colonies, than a war with their fellow-subjects the Canadians, or with the Indians.

Hostilities have already begun; to fight with the King's troops has become a necessary and incumbent duty; the Colonies cannot avoid it. But pray, is it necessary that the Canadians and the inhabitants of the English Colonies should butcher one another? God forbid! There is no controversy subsisting between you and them. Pray let old England and the Colonies fight it out, and you, Canadians, stand by and see what an arm of flesh can do. We conclude, Saint Luke, Captain McCoy, and other evil-minded persons whose interest and inclination is that the Canadians and the people of these Colonies should cut one another's throats, have inveigled some of the baser sort of your people to attack our said reconnoitring party.

Allen signed this letter as "At present the Principal Commander of the Army."

A copy of it was sent to Mr. Walker at Montreal by Mr. Jeffere. Another copy was sent to the New York Provincial Congress.

John Brown, a young lawyer of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was the cause of Ethan Allen's long, terrible captivity. That alone justifies our curiosity to know all about him. In March, before the war, he made an eventful trip to Montreal, going along our borders, crossing the lakes, visiting Bennington, engaging two pilots, contracting with the foremost men there, spending days investigating the status of affairs in Canada as to the coming struggle. Reporting to his employers, Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren, he says that after stopping about a fortnight at Albany he was fourteen days journeying to St. John's, undergoing inconceivable hardships; the lake very high, the country for twenty miles each side under water; the ice breaking loose for miles; two days frozen in to an island; "we were glad to foot it on land;" "there is no prospect of Canada sending delegates to the Continental Congress." He speaks of his pilot, Peleg Sunderland, as "an old Indian hunter acquainted with the St. Francis Indians and their language." The other pilot was a captive many years ago among the Caughnawaga Indians. This last was Winthrop Hoit, of Bennington. These two men were famous for their familiarity with Indian ways and speech, as well as for general prowess, and their exploits in "beech-sealing" the Yorkers. Several days Sunderland and Hoit were among the Caughnawagas, studying their manifestations of feeling toward the colonists. Brown gave letters to Thomas Walker and Blake, and pamphlets to four curés in La Prairie. He was kindly received by the local committee, who told him about Canadian politics, that Governor Carleton was no great politician, a man of sour, morose temper, and so forth. Brown wrote Adams and Warren he should not go to Quebec, "as a number of their committee are here," but "I shall tarry here some time." "I have established a channel of correspondence through the New Hampshire Grants which may be depended on." "One thing I must mention, to be kept as a profound secret. The fort at Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possible should hostilities be committed by the King's troops. The people on New Hampshire Grants have engaged to do this business." This letter was dated three weeks before the Lexington and Concord fights electrified the continent.

[CHAPTER X.]

WARNER ELECTED COLONEL OF THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS.—ALLEN'S LETTER TO GOVERNOR TRUMBULL.—CORRESPONDENCE IN REGARD TO THE INVASION OF CANADA.—ATTACK ON MONTREAL.—DEFEAT AND CAPTURE.—WARNER'S REPORT.

On July 27th committees of towns met at Dorset to choose a lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, and thus of those Green Mountain Boys for whose organization Allen had been so active and efficient with both the Continental and New York Congresses. Seth Warner received forty-one of the forty-six votes cast. Deep was Allen's chagrin and mortification, as appears in the following letter to Governor Trumbull:

Ticonderoga, August 3, 1775.

Honored Sir:—General Schuyler exerts his utmost in building boats and making preparations for the army to advance, as I suppose, to St. John's, etc. We have an insufficient store of provisions for such an undertaking, though the projection is now universally approved. Provisions are hurrying forward, but not so fast as I could hope for. General Wooster's corps has not arrived. I fear there is some treachery among the New York Tory party relative to forwarding the expedition, though I am confident that the General is faithful. No troops from New York, except some officers, have arrived, though it is given out that they will soon be here. The General tells me he does not want any more troops till more provisions come to hand, which he is hurrying; and ordered the troops under General Wooster, part to be billeted in the mean while at Albany and part to mend the road from there to Lake George.

It is indeed an arduous work to furnish an army to prosecute an enterprise. In the interim, I am apprehensive, the enemy are forming one against us; witness the sailing of the transports and two men of war from Boston, as it is supposed for Quebeck. Probably, it appears that the King's Troops are discouraged of making incursions into the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. Likely they will send part of their force to overawe the Canadians, and inveigle the Indians into their interest. I fear the Colonies have been too slow in their resolutions and preparations relative to this department; but hope they may still succeed.

Notwithstanding my zeal and success in my country's cause, the old farmers on the New Hampshire Grants (who do not incline to go to war) have met in a committee meeting, and in their nomination of officers for the regiment of Green Mountain Boys (who are quickly to be raised) have wholly omitted me; but as the commissions will come from the Continental Congress, I hope they will remember me, as I desire to remain in the service, and remain your Honor's most obedient and humble servant,

Ethan Allen.

To the Hon. Jona. Trumbull, Governor of the Colony of Connecticut.

N. B.—General Schuyler will transmit to your Honors a copy of the affidavits of two intelligent friends, who have just arrived from Canada. I apprehend that what they have delivered is truth. I find myself in the favor of the officers of the Army and the young Green Mountain Boys. How the old men came to reject me I cannot conceive, inasmuch as I saved them from the encroachments of New York.

E. A.

This Jonathan Trumbull, be it remembered, was the original "Brother Jonathan."

Allen's first connection with the campaign in Canada is explained in his own narrative:

Early in the fall of the year, the little army under the command of the Generals Schuyler and Montgomery were ordered to advance into Canada. I was at Ticonderoga when this order arrived; and the General, with most of the field officers, requested me to attend them in the expedition; and though at that time I had no commission from Congress, yet they engaged me, that I should be considered as an officer, the same as though I had a commission; and should, as occasion might require, command certain detachments of the army. This I considered as an honorable offer, and did not hesitate to comply with it.

September 8, 1775, from St. Therese, James Livingston wrote to General Schuyler:

Your manifestos came to hand, and despatched them off to the different Parishes with all possible care and expedition. The Canadians are all friends, and a spirit of freedom seems to reign amongst them. Colonel Allen, Major Brown and myself set off this morning with a party of Canadians with intention to go to your army; but hearing of a party of Indians waiting for us the same side of the river, we thought it most prudent to retire in order, if possible, to raise a more considerable party of men. We shall drop down the River Chambly, as far as my house, where a number of Canadians are waiting for us.

September 10, 1775, at Isle-aux-Noix, General Schuyler in his orders to Colonel Ritzemd, who was going into Canada with five hundred men, says:

Colonel Allen and Major Brown have orders to request that provisions may be brought to you, which must be punctually paid for, for which purpose I have furnished you with the sum of £318 1s. 10d. in gold.

September 15, 1775, at Isle-aux-Noix, General Schuyler received from James Livingston a report in which he says:

Yesterday morning, I sent a party each side of the river, Colonel Allen at their head, to take the vessels at Sorel, by surprise if possible. Numbers of people flock to them, and make no doubt they will carry their point. I have cut off the communication from Montreal to Chambly. We have nothing to fear here at present but a few seigneurs in the country endeavoring to raise forces. I hope Colonel Allen's presence will put a stop to it.

September 8, 1775, at Isle-aux-Noix, Schuyler writes Hancock:

I hope to hear in a day or two from Colonel Allen and Major Brown, who went to deliver my declaration.

This refers to Schuyler's address to the inhabitants of Canada, dated Isle-aux-Noix, September 5, 1775.

From Isle-aux-Noix, September 14, 1775, Ethan Allen reports to General Schuyler:

Set out from Isle-aux-Noix on the 8th instant; arrived at Chambly; found the Canadians in that vicinity friendly. They guarded me under arms night and day, escorted me through the woods as I desired, and showed me every courtesy I could wish for. The news of my being in this place excited many captains of the Militia and respectable gentlemen of the Canadians to visit and converse with me, as I gave out I was sent by General Schuyler to manifest his friendly intentions toward them, and delivered the General's written manifesto to them to the same purpose. I likewise sent a messenger to the chiefs of the Caughnawaga Indians, demanding the cause why sundry of the Indians had taken up arms against the United Colonies; they had sent two of their chiefs to me, who plead that it was contrary to the will and orders of their chiefs. The King's troops gave them rum and inveigled them to fight against General Schuyler; that they had sent their runners and ordered them to depart from St. John's, averring their friendship to the Colonies. Meanwhile the Sachems held a General Council, sent two of their Captains and some beads and a wampum belt as a lasting testimony of their friendship, and that they would not take up arms on either side. These tokens of friendship were delivered to me, agreeable to their ceremony, in a solemn manner, in the presence of a large auditory of Canadians, who approved of the league and manifested friendship to the Colonies, and testified their good-will on account of the advance of the army into Canada. Their fears (as they said) were, that our army was too weak to protect them against the severity of the English Government, as a defeat on our part would expose our friends in Canada to it. In this dilemma our friends expressed anxiety of mind. It furthermore appeared to me that many of the Canadians were watching the scale of power, whose attraction attracted them. In fine, our friends in Canada earnestly urged that General Schuyler should immediately environ St. John's, and that they would assist in cutting off the communication between St. John's and Chambly, and between these forts and Montreal. They furthermore assured me that they would help our army to provisions, etc., and that if our army did not make a conquest of the King's garrisons, they would be exposed to the resentment of the English Government, which they dreaded, and consequently the attempt of the army into Canada would be to them the greatest evil. They further told me that some of the inhabitants, that were in their hearts friendly to us, would, to extricate themselves, take up arms in favor of the Crown; and therefore, that it was of the last importance to them, as well as to us, that the army immediately attack St. John's; which would cause them to take up arms in our favor. Governor Carleton threatens the Canadians with fire and sword, except they assist him against the Colonies, and the seigneurs urge them to it. They have withstood Carleton and them, and keep under arms throughout most of their Parishes, and are now anxiously watching the scale of power. This is the situation of affairs in Canada, according to my most painful discovery. Given under my hand, upon honor, this 14th day of September, 1775.

Ethan Allen.

To his Excellency General Schuyler.

With one more letter from Allen (to General Montgomery) we will close his correspondence on the invasion of Canada, which he so strongly urged, so shrewdly planned, and yet which failed from lack of the co-operation of others:

St. Tours, September 20, 1775.

Excellent Sir:—I am now in the Parish of St. Tours, four leagues to the south; have two hundred and fifty Canadians under arms; as I march they gather fast. These are the objects of taking the vessels in Sorel and General Carleton. These objects I pass by to assist the army besieging St. John's. If this place be taken the country is ours; if we miscarry in this, all other achievements will profit but little. I am fearful our army may be too sickly, and that the siege may be hard; therefore choose to assist in conquering St. John's, which, of consequence, conquers the whole. You may rely on it that I shall join you in about three days, with three hundred or more Canadian volunteers. I could raise one or two thousand in a week's time, but will first visit the army with a less number, and if necessary will go again recruiting. Those that used to be enemies to our cause come cap in hand to me, and I swear by the Lord I can raise three times the number of our army in Canada, provided you continue the siege; all depends on that. It is the advice of the officers with me, that I speedily repair to the army. God grant you wisdom, fortitude and every accomplishment of a victorious general; the eyes of all America, nay, of Europe, are or will be on the economy of this army, and the consequences attending it. I am your most obedient humble servant,

Ethan Allen.

P.S.—I have purchased six hogsheads of rum, and sent a sergeant with a small party to deliver it at headquarters. Mr. Livingston, and others under him, will provide what fresh beef you need; as to bread and flour, I am forwarding what I can. You may rely on my utmost attention to this object, as well as raising auxiliaries. I know the ground is swampy and bad for raising batteries, but pray let no object of obstructions be insurmountable. The glory of a victory, which will be attended with such important consequences, will crown all our fatigue, risks, and labors; to fail of victory will be an eternal disgrace; but to obtain it will elevate us on the wings of fame.

Yours, etc.,

Ethan Allen.

On September 17th, three and a half months after Allen urged the invasion of Canada, Montgomery began the siege of St. John's. Two or three days later Warner arrived with his regiment of Green Mountain Boys. Arnold, not behind in energy and daring, captured a British sloop.

On September 24th Allen, with about eighty men, chiefly Canadians, met Major John Brown, with about two hundred Americans and Canadians, and Brown proposed to attack Montreal. It was agreed that Brown should cross the St. Lawrence that night above the city, while Allen crossed it below. Allen added about thirty English-Americans to his force and crossed. The cause of Brown's failure to meet him has never been explained. Several hundred English-Canadians and Indians with forty regular soldiers attacked Allen, and for two hours he bravely and skilfully fought a force several times larger than his own. Most of Allen's Canadian allies deserted him, and with thirty of his men he was finally captured, loaded with irons, and transported to England.

Thus, within five months, Allen, who had never before seen a battle or an army, who had never been trained as a soldier, becomes famous by the capture of Ticonderoga; is influential in preventing the abandonment of Ticonderoga; is foremost in the institution of a regiment of Green Mountain Boys; is rejected by that regiment as its commanding officer; is successful in raising the Canadians; urges Congress to invade Canada; fails from lack of support in his attack on Montreal; in five short months, fame, defeat, and bitter captivity.

Warner's announcement to Montgomery is as follows:

La Prairie, September 27, 1775.

May it please your Honor, I have the disagreeable news to write you that Colonel Allen hath met a defeat by a stronger force which sallied out of the town of Montreal after he had crossed the river about a mile below the town. I have no certain knowledge as yet whether he is killed, taken, or fled; but his defeat hath put the French people into great consternation. They are much concerned for fear of a company coming over against us. Furthermore the Indian chiefs were at Montreal at the time of Allen's battle, and there were a number of Caughnawaga Indians in the battle against Allen, and the people are very fearful of the Indians. There were six in here last night, I suppose sent as spies. I asked the Indians concerning their appearing against us in every battle; their answer to me was, that Carleton made them drunk and drove them to it; but they said they would do so no more. I should think it proper to keep a party at Longueil, and my party is not big enough to divide. If I must tarry here, I should be glad of my regiment, for my party is made up with different companies in different regiments, and my regulation is not as good as I could wish, for subordination to your orders is my pleasure. I am, sir, with submission, your humble servant,

Seth Warner.

To General Montgomery.

This moment arrived from Colonel Allen's defeat, Captain Duggan with the following intelligence: Colonel Allen is absolutely taken captive to Montreal with a few more, and about two or three killed, and about as many wounded. The living are not all come in. Something of a slaughter made among the King's troops. From yours to serve,

Seth Warner.

Schuyler, Montgomery, and Livingston, in letters written after the defeat, comment on Allen's imprudence in making the attack single-handed, but no mention is made of Brown, with whose force Allen expected to be re-enforced, and with whose help the tide of battle might have been turned and Canada's future might have been entirely changed.

[CHAPTER XI.]

ALLEN'S NARRATIVE.—ATTACK ON MONTREAL.—DEFEAT AND SURRENDER.—BRUTAL TREATMENT.—ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.—DEBATES IN PARLIAMENT.

The story of Allen's captivity is best told in his own vivid narrative as follows:

On the morning of the 24th day of September I set out with my guard of about eighty men, from Longueuil, to go to Laprairie, from whence I determined to go to General Montgomery's camp; I had not advanced two miles before I met with Major Brown, who has since been advanced to the rank of a colonel, who desired me to halt, saying that he had something of importance to communicate to me and my confidants; upon which I halted the party and went into a house, and took a private room with him and several of my associates, where Colonel Brown proposed that, provided I would return to Longueuil and procure some canoes, so as to cross the river St. Lawrence a little north of Montreal, he would cross it a little to the south of the town, with near two hundred men, as he had boats sufficient, and that we could make ourselves masters of Montreal. This plan was readily approved by me and those in council, and in consequence of which I returned to Longueuil, collected a few canoes, and added about thirty English-Americans to my party and crossed the river in the night of the 24th, agreeably to the proposed plan.

My whole party at this time consisted of about one hundred and ten men, near eighty of whom were Canadians. We were most of the night crossing the river, as we had so few canoes that they had to pass and repass three times to carry my party across. Soon after daybreak, I set a guard between me and the town, with special orders to let no person pass or repass them, another guard on the other end of the road with like directions; in the mean time, I reconnoitred the best ground to make a defence, expecting Colonel Brown's party was landed on the other side of the town, he having the day before agreed to give three huzzas with his men early in the morning, which signal I was to return, that we might each know that both parties were landed; but the sun by this time being nearly two hours high, and the sign failing, I began to conclude myself to be in a præmunire, and would have crossed the river back again, but I knew the enemy would have discovered such an attempt; and as there could not more than one-third part of my troops cross at a time, the other two-thirds would of course fall into their hands. This I could not reconcile to my own feelings as a man, much less as an officer; I therefore concluded to maintain the ground if possible and all to fare alike. In consequence of this resolution, I dispatched two messengers, one to Laprairie to Colonel Brown, and the other to L'Assomption, a French settlement, to Mr. Walker who was in our interest, requesting their speedy assistance, giving them at the same time to understand my critical situation. In the mean time, sundry persons came to my guards pretending to be friends, but were by them taken prisoners and brought to me. These I ordered to confinement until their friendship could be further confirmed; for I was jealous they were spies, as they proved to be afterward. One of the principal of them making his escape, exposed the weakness of my party, which was the final cause of my misfortune; for I have been since informed that Mr. Walker, agreeably to my desire, exerted himself, and had raised a considerable number of men for my assistance, which brought him into difficulty afterward, but upon hearing of my misfortune he disbanded them again.

The town of Montreal was in a great tumult. General Carleton and the royal party made every preparation to go on board their vessels of force, as I was afterward informed, but the spy escaped from my guard to the town occasioned an alteration in their policy and emboldened General Carleton to send the force which had there collected out against me. I had previously chosen my ground, but when I saw the number of the enemy as they sallied out of the town I perceived it would be a day of trouble, if not of rebuke; but I had no chance to flee, as Montreal was situated on an island and the St. Lawrence cut off my communication to General Montgomery's camp. I encouraged my soldiers to bravely defend themselves, that we should soon have help, and that we should be able to keep the ground if no more. This and much more I affirmed with the greatest seeming assurance, and which in reality I thought to be in some degree probable.

The enemy consisted of not more than forty regular troops, together with a mixed multitude, chiefly Canadians, with a number of English who lived in town, and some Indians; in all to the number of five hundred.

The reader will notice that most of my party were Canadians; indeed, it was a motley parcel of soldiery which composed both parties. However, the enemy began to attack from wood-piles, ditches, buildings, and such like places, at a considerable distance, and I returned the fire from a situation more than equally advantageous. The attack began between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, just before which I ordered a volunteer by the name of Richard Young, with a detachment of nine men as a flank guard, which, under the cover of the bank of the river, could not only annoy the enemy, but at the same time serve as a flank guard to the left of the main body.